Legacy of Heroes
by dolphin12145
Summary: Evil has risen again and, as legend dictates, a Hero has been born to counteract it. A new story unfolds, and an old legacy continues. However, their story is never simple, and there is always more than meets the eye. -Sheik is not Zelda, Sheik is female. Based off of Ocarina of Time.-
1. A Day in the Life of Sheik

**Ganondorf's Castle**

Link emerged from the crumbling castle with Zelda right beside him, escaping just seconds before it collapsed in on itself, leaving a flat, roundish platform floating on top of the lava.  
"It's finally over..." Zelda said. Link nodded and smiled at her. She turned to face him and looked like she was about to hug him, but a rumbling sound interrupted.  
"What was that?" Zelda asked. Link shrugged and drew his sword, cautiously walking forward toward the pile of rubble in the middle of the circle. He was about ten feet away when the pile of rubble erupted, throwing Link backwards.  
Ganondorf pulled himself out of the rubble. His cape was shredded, and he looked like he was in pain.  
Staggering out of the rubble, he collapsed to his knees, breathing hard.  
Link picked himself up and got into a ready stance, sword poised to strike.  
Letting out a terrible roar, Ganondorf began to grow. He roared again and his body began to change shape. Link looked on in horror as Ganondorf's back bent and he grew longer, his skin changing into thick hide, and his head stretching and growing until he had the shape of a giant boar, razor sharp tusks gleaming in the dim light.  
Fire blazed up around Link and Ganon, trapping them while on the other side of the wall of fire Zelda screamed.  
Link met Ganon's yellow gaze, the boars little eyes glared back, full of hatred and anger.  
"This time, we can face this thing together." Navi said determinedly. Link nodded gratefully at his constant companion and steeled himself for the coming fight, ignoring the pain throughout his body that begged him to rest.  
Ganon swung one of his two massive golden swords at Link. He dodged one, but was forced to block the other one. The bone shattering blow connected with his sword, knocking it from his grasp. The sword flew across the fiery barrier and imbedded itself in the ground near Zelda.  
Scrambling to get out of the way, he dodged the next blow and ran behind Ganon, looking for a weak point.  
"I can't tell what it's weak point is!" Navi cried, dodging a sword and flying back to Link.  
He rolled out of the way of Gannon's massive tail, whacking it with the Biggoron's sword as he passed.  
Gannon screamed and staggered away.  
"That glowing orb on it's tail must be it's weak point!" Navi exclaimed, a little unnecessarily. Link nodded and blocked one of the swords with his shield, then rolled between Gannon's legs, coming up behind him and cutting his tail.  
Gannon screamed and stomped away before turning around and attacking again, barraging Link with his swords.  
Link desperately tried to block them, relying heavily on Navi to tell him where the next attack was coming from.  
Navi yelled, and Link spun to meet the next attack, but he was too slow and was knocked to the ground.  
Ganon pointed his massive sword at Link's chest, and chortled. Glowing yellow eyes alight with malice and a cruel, insane glee.  
Link groaned, he was going to die. He didn't have anymore fairies, and nobody could save him right now.  
He blinked, trying to clear the heavy rain from his eyes.  
Gannon raised his other sword.  
Link grit his teeth and struggled to keep his eyes on Gannon.  
The sword began it's deadly decent.  
Zelda screamed.

**Eight Years Earlier**

Sheik was up at sunrise, as usual. She ate a quick breakfast, put on her armor and went to find Impa for today's training.  
Almost two years ago, Impa had taken Sheik with her to Hyrule castle. Impa had been visiting the Sheikah tribe that lived on death mountain and in Kakariko village when she had met Sheik, who wanted to train as a Sheikah warrior. Sheikah start training at the age of five, so after Impa had said yes, Sheik had started training immediately.  
Sheik found Impa in one of Hyrule Castle's many gardens, watching Zelda, who was gardening.  
"Good morning!" Zelda said cheerfully when she entered. Zelda and Sheik were good friends, and took many lessons together, since Impa was both Zelda's personal guard and nursemaid, as well as Sheik's mentor.  
"Good morning, Princess." Sheik greeted. Impa nodded to her and told her to meditate for awhile.  
Each morning started with meditation, a Sheikah had to be completely in control of their minds, it's part of what made them such good warriors.  
Then Sheik did physical training, practiced some of the things that made Sheikah different from other warriors, such as poisons, the art of not being noticed, and shadow magic, while Zelda was learning etiquette, then she attended language, geography, and history lessons with Zelda.  
After their lessons were over, Zelda asked Sheik to go with her to dinner, since the other option was having food delivered to their rooms and doing their homework. Impa had disappeared after class, but both could guess that she was close by.  
Sheik nodded, and Zelda led the way to the royal dining hall.  
"Did you know that the Gerudo king is coming tomorrow to sign a peace treaty with Hyrule?" Zelda asked as they walked, practically bouncing with excitement.  
"That's good." Sheik said.  
"That's good? Is that all you have to say?" Zelda huffed. "Our two countries have been at war for decades! This is monumental! It will change our country forever." she said.  
"Yeah." agreed Sheik.  
"You should talk more." Zelda said, turning around to face Sheik and walking backwards. "It would give you more personality." Sheik shrugged. She had never been one to talk needlessly, it was never helpful for a Sheikah to be talkative.  
"You talk enough for both of us, Princess." Sheik said. Zelda glared at her.  
"I thought I told you to call me Zelda?" Sheik shrugged and Zelda was about to say something more when their argument was interrupted by the castle's head cook, Elain.  
"What may I get for you today, Princess?" she asked, curtsying.  
"Whatever today's special is." she said.  
"And for you?" Elain asked.  
"Same." Sheik said. Elain nodded and smiled, shoving them down into the puffy chairs that surrounded a beautiful wooden table to wait for their meal.

-0-0-0-

The day after when Sheik went to meet Impa she was told she had a break after twelve.  
Impa had her do her physical work, which consisted mostly of weapons practice, and practice her magic before she sent Sheik off to escort Zelda through town.

-0-0-0-

There were Gerudo everywhere. Some had set up stalls selling things alongside the Hylian venders and others drifted through town and bought things from the Hylian merchants.  
"Wow!" Zelda said excitedly, dragging Sheik through the masses to a stall selling clothing. Sheik fidgeted uncomfortably and scanned the crowed for the billionth time. Impa had told her to wear common clothes, so they weren't too obvious or threatening, and Sheik felt exposed without her armor and the now familiar weight of her weapons.  
"What do you think?" Zelda asked, spinning around with a purple dress in her hands, holding it up for Sheik to see.  
"Nice." Sheik said, wondering how she was supposed to know, she was a warrior, not a stylist. Zelda bought the dress and grabbed Sheik's hand, tugging her over to a different stall, this one selling jewelry.  
After another three hours of shopping, by which time Sheik was feeling quite traumatized by the large amounts of noise, people, and shopping, Sheik said,  
"Princess, we should go back. You have a meeting with king Ganondorf in an hour." Zelda sighed, the happy look instantly wiped from her face.  
"I don't trust that man." she said solemnly.  
Sheik didn't reply. The gerudo king did have a evil air about him, something that made him frightening to the young sheikah, but her opinion didn't matter, and since the princess was still a child, neither did hers.  
They returned to the castle, and Zelda left to go to the meeting, casting a baleful glance at Sheik.  
"When I return, I have something very important to tell you." she said seriously. Sheik nodded and Zelda disappeared into the throne room.

-0-0-0-

Upon Zelda's return she had brought Sheik to her room and told her about a dream she had been having for the last few nights.  
"In my dream dark storm clouds are covering Hyrule." she closed her eyes as if she could see those clouds behind her eyelids. "Then, out of the dark comes a lone figure dressed in green, like a pillar of light in a pitch-black world. Beside him floats a small blue light, and with him he carries a glowing green stone." she opened her aqua blue eyes and looked intensely at Sheik. "I think that this boy is the Hero of Time, Sheik, and that those dark clouds represent Ganondorf. I'm sure that man is evil." she said. "Do you believe me?" Sheik considered this for a moment. The princess was known to have visions of the future, most often through dreams, and Impa said the princess was gifted with the power of the goddesses, so it seemed probable. Most of the princess's premonitions had come true so Sheik said yes.  
"Thank you." Zelda said. "I told my father but he didn't believe me, he said that Ganondorf came only with good intention, that all he wanted was peace between our two kingdoms."  
"Peace is something we all want." Impa stepped out of the shadows and crossed her arms. "But not all of us want it for the same reasons nor try to get it in the same way." Zelda looked up at her and nodded.  
"Sheik has some studying to do now, so we will take our leave." Zelda nodded and watched as the two sheikah left, knowing they would be in the room next door, always there if she needed them.  
Tomorrow was special, she knew. Tomorrow, the wheels of fate would begin to turn.


	2. The Death of a Country

It was mid-afternoon when the two kings had finally agreed on the terms of the treaty.

Sheik was laying on the roof of a tower that had a clear view of the garden below, where Zelda was, and the path leading to it.  
She absently played a song on her harp as she thought about what she would do with the rest of her life.  
Glancing down onto the path below to check if Zelda was still there and if the guards were doing their jobs, she saw a small figure dressed in green sneaking past the guards and coming toward the garden. Sheik had always thought the guards were unobservant, but this was just sad. He was literally walking right behind them.  
Without a word, the young sheikah climbed down the tower and dropped onto one of the walls surrounding the garden next to Impa.  
"I see him." Impa informed her quietly. "Let him be for now, he resembles the boy Zelda described. Capture him if he draws any of his weapons." Sheik nodded and disappeared into the shadows at the edges of the garden near Zelda.  
The boy in green walked into the garden and stopped. After first looking around carefully, his eyes stopped on Zelda. He took a few steps closer and Sheik slipped a knife out of it's sheath attached to her leg.  
Zelda spun around and gasped in surprise. She nearly yelled for Impa, but the boy looked like the figure she had seen in her dream.  
"Who are you?" Zelda asked.  
The boy said nothing for a moment, then said softly, "Link."  
Zelda looked him over, and noticed the fairy.  
"Is that a fairy?" Link nodded. Zelda leaned in close to examine it. "Oh!" Zelda said, drawing back suddenly. "I was so excited I forgot to properly introduce myself. I am Princess Zelda Nohansen Hyrule." she curtsied. "You don't by any chance have a shining green stone with you, do you?" Zelda asked, hope filling her face. Link reached into the pouch at his waist and pulled out a shining green stone. It had gold wrapped around it and Sheik could sense the power from where she stood.  
Zelda's blue eyes widened and she asked if he could keep a secret.  
He nodded.  
"Well, I had this dream..." she began. She told him of how the three golden goddesses had created Hyrule, how they had left behind the Triforce, and about the dream she had of a dark cloud covering Hyrule, and of a figure dressed in green with a fairy and a glowing green stone coming to save it.  
She told him that she was sure the dark cloud represented the king of the gerudo, Ganondorf, and that the figure in green must be Link.  
"Do you believe me?" she asked. Link hesitated for a second, then nodded.  
"Thank you!" Zelda said. Sheik thought he seemed skeptical, but Zelda didn't seem to notice. She motioned toward the window she had been looking through.  
"That is Ganondorf." Zelda explained, "He is signing a peace treaty with my father right now, but as I said before, he is evil. There are two more sacred stones needed to open the Door of Time, and the sacred Ocarina of Time, which I protect. We are the only ones who can stop him. Please, gather the last two stones and protect them!" Well, that was somewhat sudden. But Link agreed none the less, and Impa jumped off of the wall, startling Link into drawing his small sword. Sheik instantly stepped out of the shadows near Zelda and moved in front of her, tanto(1) held ready.  
"I am Impa, Zelda's guardian. I will escort you safely out of the castle." Impa's voice was calm and she radiated an aura of authority. Taking a few steps forward and preparing a deku nut as she moved, she took Link's arm, raising the nut above her head in preparation to teleport.  
Zelda pushed Sheik out of the way and said goodbye to Link, parting with a "Be careful!"  
Impa threw the Deku nut on the ground, pouring her magic into it and teleporting both her and Link away. Once they were gone Zelda turned to Sheik.  
"That was rude!" she said.  
"I was told to capture him if he drew any weapons." Zelda glared at her. Sheik met her gaze easily with her own. After a minute, Zelda turned back to the window and said,  
"Watch, Sheik, their signing the treaty." both of them turned to look through the window into the throne room.  
"You know this is illegal, right?" Sheik asked as they watched both kings sign the piece of paper through the window.  
Zelda shrugged.  
"Not for me." They watched until the kings had shaken hands and everyone began to leave the throne room and head to the fancy dinner that would be held in the massive dining hall.

-0-0-0-

The gerudo came to Hyrule Castle again six months later.  
Sheik had just had her seventh birthday, and Zelda's tenth was in three months.  
"Your too mature for your age." Zelda said as Sheik helped tie the back of her dress and fix her hair.  
"I am Sheikah." Sheik said simply. Zelda frowned.  
"Yes, but shouldn't you still be enjoying your childhood? Not learning how to kill people and protect the kingdom, even at the cost of your life?"  
Sheik shrugged, brushing her dirty-blonde bangs out of her red eyes and finished lacing up the back of Zelda's dress.  
"Sheikah are different from hylians." Sheik said. Zelda frowned again.  
"Not that different." Sheik shrugged again. Zelda opened her mouth to say something more, but Impa came in, cutting into their conversation.  
"Princess, it is time." Zelda sighed and checked herself in the mirror once more before reluctantly following Impa out. Once again, she was going to see the man she feared would destroy her home. That didn't sit well with her.

-0-0-0-  
"Princess Zelda, wake up!" Impa said urgently. Sheik was awake and had her armor on in seconds. She grabbed her Bottomless Bag, designed by the castle's magicians, from the table. Sheik was already packed and prepared for anything. That's how sheikah lived.  
Sheik slipped silently into Zelda's room and Impa quickly briefed her while Zelda got dressed.  
"The king is dead. Ganondorf has conquered Hyrule Castle." she said.  
Sheik took a moment to digest this, then shoved her chaotic emotions and panic into the back of her mind to dwell on later.  
Zelda was ready a few minutes later and Impa led them all through the secret passages until they emerged in the stables. Impa quickly killed the few gerudo who were in the stable and tried to attack them before saddling and bridling Zelda's horse, Maple, and put Zelda, who was shaking, on the horse behind her. Zelda clamped her arms around Impa and just sat there in shock.  
Sheik mounted one of the other horses said,  
"I'm going to go first," she rode up next to Zelda, took her cloak and pulled her hair out of it's tight braid, "I look very similar to you and nobody will be able to tell the difference in the dark, so once the gerudo are chasing me, run. I will meet you in Kakariko." she said, her tone leaving no room for argument, not that Zelda was about to do anything at all right now.  
Impa hesitated, then nodded.  
Zelda didn't even look up as Impa wrapped Sheik's cloak around her shoulders. She was probably in shock.

Sheik kicked her horse's flank and they shot out of the stable. She galloped out of the castle, the gate guards, who were still unaware of the massacre in the castle, opened the gate for her and she raced into Castle Town.  
Some gerudo spotted Sheik and followed, yelling at her to stop.  
Then Ganondorf himself, on his black steed, galloped out of the castle.  
Sheik rode through the back streets of Castle Town, leading the gerudo following, including Ganondorf, around in circles, buying time for Impa and Zelda.

As soon as Sheik was gone, Impa and Zelda set off for the draw bridge.

Ganondorf threw a glowing ball of magic at Sheik, hitting her horse and knocking them both to the ground.  
Sheik was surrounded in seconds, and her white hood was ripped off.  
"That is not Zelda!" thundered Ganondorf when he saw her. Sheik scrambled to her feet and pulled her tanto from it's sheath. She was shaking, but she forced herself to stand still and occupy the gerudo for as long as she could.  
A short skirmish ensued, and the sheikah was captured within minutes. Ganondorf dismounted from his pitch-black horse and stood before her.  
"Sheikah, eh?" Ganondorf met Sheik's defiant crimson gaze with his amused yellow one, "Take it to the dungeon." Ganondorf ordered.  
The gerudo instantly obeyed and Ganondorf galloped away.

-0-0-0-

The massive draw bridge slammed open, startling Link, and a white horse galloped out. Link recognized the two people on it's back as Princess Zelda and her sheikah caretaker, Impa.  
"Link!" Zelda yelled, a desperate look on her face. Link met her eyes for a moment and in that second she seemed to come to a decision. Reaching into the pocket in her dress, she threw a blue ocarina into the moat behind him. Then she was gone, her white horse carrying her and her guard into the dark and rain.  
A minute later, a black horse came out, and stopped, towering over Link.  
"Boy, which way did the white horse go?" it's rider demanded. Link didn't answer, instead he drew his sword and glared at the man who he now recognized as Ganondorf.  
"Foolish boy." Ganondorf smirked and threw a ball of magic at Link, knocking him down. A searing pain spread through his chest, and Link gasped for air.  
As his world went black, Link heard Ganondorf say;  
"Learn who your dealing with, boy." his menacing laugh echoed through Link's brain as he finally lost his grip on the conscious world.

-0-0-0-

(1)- Tanto, a knife used by the Japanese, like a mini-katana, which is a single edged sword made of folded steel and used by the samurai.  
If you like weapons I suggest you read the wiki article on tantos, wakizashis, and katanas.


	3. I am Queen

The rain was falling hard, soaking everything within a few minutes.  
Impa was leaning low over the horse's neck to avoid being blinded by the heavy rain, Zelda sat behind, her thin arms wrapped tightly around Impa's waist.  
They had been riding for forty hours since the start of their frantic escape from Hyrule Castle. They had stopped once at Lon Lon Ranch, the midway point between the castle and Kakariko village, to feed and water themselves and their horse.  
Sometime in the night at the second day of travel, Zelda had fallen asleep, but now she was awake again, and all too aware of the horror of the previous night.  
"Almost there." Impa told her, her voice nearly lost in the sound of rain and hooves pounding against the ground. Impa urged Maple to run faster, the tired horse responded by quickening her pace almost imperceptibly.  
Impa stopped the horse a few minutes later as they reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to Kakariko.  
"Zelda, we are here." Impa jumped gracefully off the horse then helped Zelda down.  
Impa led Maple carefully up the stairs with Zelda beside her.  
As they walked Zelda wiped away her tears, thankful that the rain hid them. She had to be strong right now. She was now queen, and she had to give her people a strong leader to look up to.  
When they entered the village the gate guard saluted and said,  
"Good evening, your highness." Zelda looked up and nodded in acknowledgement, not trusting her voice.  
As they walked through the village Zelda took deep breaths to clear her mind. The reality of the last two days hit Zelda hard.  
Her father was dead. Many of the soldiers and servants were dead. Zelda felt like curling up into a ball and crying, but she couldn't afford to break down right now.  
Impa led Zelda to her house, stopping in front of the door to give Maple's reigns to a stable boy.  
"Good evening, Princess Zelda." the soldier in front of Impa's house saluted and opened the door. She nodded and entered, followed by Impa.  
Zelda walked to the room in the back, which she had used when Impa had taken her and Sheik to visit Kakariko in the past, and sat down on the bed.  
Impa sent for food then came to sit by Zelda, putting a arm around her shoulders comfortingly.  
"It's okay to cry now, Zelda." Zelda didn't respond, her azure blue eyes filling with tears.  
"Is Sheik here yet?" she asked. Impa shook her head.  
"It's been two days... Does that mean..." new tears filled Zelda's eyes and Impa hugged her.  
Two days was too long. Either Sheik was dead or had been captured. Even with the head start they'd had, Sheik wouldn't have stopped, and her horse would have been faster, carrying only one person.

Finally, morning came. It was still raining, it had been for the past two days.  
Zelda was sitting at Impa's kitchen table, picking at her breakfast dejectedly.  
"Impa, can you go look for her?" Zelda asked. Impa hesitated. It would be risky going back to the castle. Already the world was looking so much darker. People were coming to Kakariko from all over Hyrule and most of Castle Town was already here. They had said monsters came and drove them out, and that Hyrule castle had fallen to the gerudo.  
"Yes." Impa said. She knew it was probably a bad idea, but Zelda would be safe here for the time being, and if Sheik was still alive, now was as good a time as any to try and help her. It wasn't fair to leave a little kid in the dungeon at Ganondorf's mercy.  
"Thank you." Zelda half smiled, and stood up to go back to her room, leaving Impa to pack for her upcoming trip.

-0-0-0-

Impa left early the next day after making sure Zelda would be safe, and there were people to look after her. She rode back to Castle town without stopping once, it would have been quicker to teleport, but if Sheik was injured or she had to fight, she may not have enough energy or magic left to get back.  
Once there, she discovered a nearly deserted town. The last residence were leaving, and the whole area had a dark and dismal feel to it. Not the jubilant, over busy town Impa was used to.  
She quickly surmised that Sheik had been captured, and went to where Hyrule castle had once stood.  
In it's place was a massive lava filled crater, the grounds the castle had stood on had been ripped out and was suspended in the sky. It looked black and ominous, like a place of evil, and Impa could feel black magic pouring off of it in waves.  
She looked around, trying to find any way to get up, since she was fairly sure that Sheik was in that castle.  
After an hour of thinking and searching, Impa found she could not reach the castle. There was a anti-magic shield around it as well, which prevented her from teleporting in.  
Sighing in defeat, Impa was forced to return to Castle town. She decided she would try to help the people move. But before that, there was somewhere she wanted to go.

-0-0-0-

The Temple of Time was old, but was still maintained and not at all dilapidated.  
Impa silently walked into the temple. It was beautiful inside, all built of marble, with high, stained glass windows and soaring arches. The ceiling was so far up Impa couldn't see the top, even with her sharp eyesight.  
She walked up to the altar and was surprised to find the Door of Time was open. Her crimson eyes widened in amazement. That meant that the young kokiri boy was the Hero of Time, and that he had entered the room beyond, and in extension, the sacred realm.  
Cautiously, Impa walked in.  
Inside the circular room beyond the Door was the Master Sword, resting on it's pedestal, and radiating power.  
High above was a single stained glass window depicting the Triforce being held up by the three Goddesses.  
Above the Master Sword was Link. He was encased in a floating blue crystal, his eyes closed in a magically educed sleep.  
Despite the depressing past few days, Impa felt hope and awe well up inside her. Hyrule wasn't going to be ruled by Ganondorf forever.  
The Hero had returned.


	4. Deal With an Almost-Devil

As soon as Ganondorf gave the order the gerudo jumped on Sheik tying her hands and ankles. One of them picked her up and threw her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.  
Sheik kicked and bit, but after a few seconds someone whacked her over the head, dazing her.  
She was carried back into the castle and down into the dungeon where she was thrown into one of the cells and chained by her ankles to the stone wall.  
Once the gerudo had left, Sheik pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around.  
She had only been in the dungeon once before, when Zelda had asked her to explore with her and they had come across the dungeon without knowing what it was.  
It was cold, dark, and made entirely of stone and iron.  
Sheik could see no way out. She knew she could pick the locks and get to the massive wooden door that led to the rest of the castle, but after that she would have to break the door somehow, since the lock was a heavy bar on the outside of the door, then she would have to get past the guards that were no doubt swarming all over the castle.  
Sheik leaned back against the wall, trying to get into a more comfortable position, and closed her eyes to think.

-0-0-0-

After some time had passed, Sheik wasn't sure how much, she heard the massive door open on it's creaky old hinges and footsteps coming down the hall.  
A few seconds later a gerudo with a lantern came into view. She stopped in front of the cell Sheik was in and opened the door. Sheik squinted, struggling to see as her eyes adjusted to the sudden light.  
"Okay, so your shiekah, right?" the gerudo asked. Without waiting for an answer she continued, "Then I assume your familiar with the whole being a prisoner thing, right?" again she didn't wait for an answer. "So I'm going to ask you a few things, and you'll answer. Got it?" Sheik didn't answered, so she continued.  
"First question; where is Princess Zelda?" Sheik kept her mouth firmly shut. The gerudo took a whip from where it hung at her waist and hit Sheik with it. She didn't react, instead she continued to stare at the gerudo with unnerving calm. This seemed to annoy the gerudo, because she glared at Sheik and moved on to the next question.  
"Where is the Ocarina of Time?" Again, the sheikah didn't answer. The whip cracked again.  
"You answer my questions, or I will hurt you, do you understand?" the Gerudo hissed. Sheik glared defiantly at her.  
"Fine. When king Ganondorf hears of this, he will authorize me to use more force. You are going to regret this. Your lucky I was ordered not to damage you yet." whipping Sheik one more time, she left, taking the light with her.  
Sheik checked the spots where the whip had gone through her armor. Thanks to her armor it was just scratches, and unless they got infected wouldn't bother her at all. She didn't understand why Ganondorf had ordered them not to hurt her yet, but she had a feeling that would soon change.  
Sheik sighed. She had to escape, but she had no idea how. She wondered where Zelda was, and if she and Impa had gotten away safely.  
Deciding that worrying would get her nowhere right now, Sheik lay down in an attempt to get some sleep, she was sure that the gerudo wouldn't be so gentle with her next time. She knew the gerudo king was cruel, and this could escalate very quickly to full on torture.

-0-0-0-

Sometime later, Sheik sat up abruptly. She wasn't sure what, but something had woken her up. She sat in the dark for a few second, listening to the sound of water dripping onto the stone floor, the sound of rats scurrying through the dark, and the steady sound of her own breathing and heartbeat.  
Then she felt it. An incredibly large amount of very powerful magic. It wasn't near by, but Sheik could feel it. Something big had just happened, she wasn't sure what, but she knew it was something that would change the world. The dream Zelda had her about six months ago echoed through Sheik's head.  
Had the hero come? Had he gotten the Triforce? The magic ceased and Sheik was once again left completely alone.  
She wasn't sure how long she sat still, listening and trying to figure out what had happened, but slowly, Sheik pulled out of her thoughts and became aware of the gerudo coming towards her.  
The gerudo opened her cell and began asking questions. Every time Sheik didn't answer the gerudo whipped her. Sheik didn't answer any of her questions, and eventually the gerudo left.  
Sheik lay back down and let her thoughts wander to the king's murder, Zelda's escape, and the fact that Ganondorf now ruled. She controlled her emotions carefully, making sure that she didn't start crying.  
This was bad. When she got out, she would definitely have to find the Hero.

-0-0-0-

Sheik slumped against the wall tiredly. She was hungry now, and also very thirsty. She guessed about three days had passed.  
It was time to try and get out. If she didn't then she would soon run out of magic and energy.  
She picked the lock on her ankle with a pin from her hair and then began work on her cell lock. Once she was out she ran silently down the hall and up the spiraling stone stairs to the wooden door. Then, she tried using magic to burn through the door. But it was too thick and hard, and Sheik could only hold the magic for a few seconds.  
Sheik sat down against the wall and sighed. If only they hadn't taken her equipment. She could have used a deku nut to escape.  
The deku nut was pretty easy to use. You put a lot of magic in the deku nut, then smashed the deku nut, releasing the magic, and with all that magic in one place waiting to be used, you cast Farore's Wind and teleported to wherever you wanted.  
If she were Impa, she could teleport without the deku nut, but holding all that magic in place without something to put it in was too difficult for Sheik.  
This gave Sheik an idea. deku nuts contained magic extremely well, but there were other things that could store magic as well. Like diamond, for example.  
Sheik headed back to her cell and locked herself in, returning the pin to her hair for later use while she thought about what she could use.  
She wore no jewelry, so no crystals. She didn't know what else stored magic other than living things, of which she was the only one down here, so she decided to try rock.  
Sheik picked up a loose stone and tried to put her magic in it. Sheikah were a highly magical race, so this shouldn't take much out of her.  
The rock didn't hold magic though, and Sheik only succeeded in losing her magic to the air.  
Dismayed, she leaned back against the wall to think.  
At some point, she must have fallen asleep, because she was woken up by a whip hitting her back.

-0-0-0-

Sheik eventually figured out that the Gerudo came once a day.  
The Gerudo had since come seven times, so she had been a prisoner for a week. They had started bringing her food and water, most of which was inedible, but only enough to survive.  
Each day a Gerudo came, and each day they asked her the same questions, which Sheik never answered.  
On one of the days the entire castle had started shaking, and Sheik felt magic surround the castle. From this she guessed that Ganondorf had put up a magical barrier.  
Over time the punishments for not answering the questions became worse. Several times Sheik had almost given in and told them, but she didn't. She was a Sheikah, and she would not betray the Princess. A few times she had even wished for death, but she knew Impa would scold her and be very disappointed in her for being so weak and had pulled out of it.  
On the eighth week of her imprisonment, Ganondorf called to see her. The Gerudo came and chained her ankles and wrists, then dragged her up many flights of stairs to the castle's highest tower.  
All the windows were black, so Sheik couldn't see the state of the world, but she was sure it was bad.  
When she reached the room Ganondorf was in, the Gerudo shoved her in and slammed the heavy oak door behind her.  
Gannondorf came and stood over her. Sheik looked up. He was immense. Ganondorf was dressed all in black leather armor, with a massive broadsword on his back, along with a wicked looking dagger at his waist.  
Sheik vaguely remembered seeing him in the throne room months before, but her memories were jumbled and her brain felt like it was covered in a cloud.  
"Hello little Sheikah." Ganondorf said. His voice was deep and booming and echoed around the room loudly.  
"You're only a kid." he said, picking Sheik up by her arm, which yanked it at a painful angle. Ganondorf pulled out his dagger and made a neat cut in Sheik's arm.  
"You will answer my questions." he said.  
Sheik said nothing. Ganondorf put the dagger against Sheik's cheek and pulled it down, creating a bloody line from below Sheik's right eye to her jaw. Sheik could feel the cut burning with Ganondorf's dark magic.  
Ganon continued to question her, the dagger inflicting more minor wounds, but the cut on her face still hurt the most. His magic was painful.  
Ganondorf eventually stopped, frowning at the now bloody Sheikah.  
"You're tougher than I expected. You could be useful." Ganondorf's cruel laughter echoed around the room, it hurt Sheik's ears and scared her.  
What felt like hours later, Sheik was returned to her cell. She had nearly broken, crying out for Impa, but she hadn't told him the princess's whereabouts. Yet.  
Sheik pulled herself painfully into a sitting position, tears threatening to spill from her red eyes, but she held them back. There was only so much a seven-year-old could take, sheikah or not. If this kept up she would either die, or give in.

The next day, or what Sheik assumed was the next day, she was dragged back to Ganondorf's large circular room. She tried to pay attention to her surroundings, looking for a way out, but she was too tired and she had to fight just to keep her eyes open.  
Once again she was thrown at Ganondorf's feet, the heavy wood doors closing behind her with a loud thump.  
"Well, my little Sheikah," Ganondorf began, walking thoughtful circles around Sheik, "I have a deal I am willing to make with you." he stopped near Sheik's head and crouched down, pulling her up to look at him.  
"You do what I say, kill who I tell you to, spy on who I tell you to, the only exception being your precious princess." he stopped to let it sink in. "In return, I will let you out." Sheik couldn't help being interested. It would be wonderful to get out.  
"Well?" Ganondorf prompted. So tempting...But Sheik couldn't do that. It would be betraying everyone she cared about.  
"No..." Sheik whispered, her voice weak and faint. Ganondorf frowned,  
"Then I'll have to change your mind." Sheik felt one of Ganondorf's heavy spiked iron boots descend on her back. Sheik bit her tongue to keep from screaming, despite her effort, she still whimpered pitifully.  
Ganon kicked her again, then there were knives, whips, and other things, Sheik faded in and out of consciousness, her world full of searing pain.  
It hurt.  
It hurt so much.  
Sheik had never been in so much pain before.  
Eventually, the torture had stopped. Sheik was curled into a ball on the ground at Ganondrof's feet. She was shaking and whimpering. There was blood everywhere. Sheik's blood.  
"Do you want to rethink your answer now?" Ganondorf asked, he sounded amused.  
Sheik barely heard him. She could hardly get her thoughts coordinated enough to remember the terms.  
Zelda would be spared. Sheik would not have to tell Ganondorf anything about Zelda.  
Ganondorf prodded Sheik with one toe.  
"I'm waiting." he said. He was enjoying himself immensely.  
"Y-yes, I a-accept..." Sheik could hardly get the words out.  
It hurt too much.  
"Very good then." She was yanked roughly to her feet, and a bottle of potion was poured down her throat.  
"Just remember, if you disobey me, or tell anyone about our deal, I will kill you, your family, and your precious princess." he spat out the last word before calling a guard to escort Sheik out.


	5. Running Away, Again

The past two month and a half were very miserable and boring for Zelda. Impa had gone back to Castle Town to find Sheik, but had come back without her, instead Impa brought a bunch of refugees, and the news of Ganondorf's rule. He had gotten the Triforce.  
Link had gotten the three spiritual stones, opened the Door of Time, and pulled the Master Sword out of it's pedestal, but, being only twelve Link had been to young to be the Hero of Time and the Goddesses had put him to sleep until he reached a suitable age.  
While he had been visiting with the Goddesses, Ganondorf had gotten into the Sacred Realm and taken the Triforce, plunging the world into darkness.  
Zelda spent the time after that being trained as a Sheikah by Impa and helping the refugees that came to Kakariko.  
"Princess." Impa said, interrupting Zelda's meditation. She opened her eyes and looked up at her caretaker and closest friend.  
"Yes?"  
"We have to go, now. Ganondorf's forces have been spotted coming toward Kakariko. Pack your belongings, we leave for the Sheikah tribe's camp in three hours." Zelda stood up quickly. Non-Sheikah people never visited the Sheikah camps. There were only a few remaining, and one of those tribes lived on Death Mountain. It was where both Impa and Sheik had been born.  
"Will that be okay?" Zelda asked. Impa nodded.  
"They will not harm you if I am there." Zelda nodded. Impa was a powerful figure among both Sheikah and Hylians. She had founded Kakariko Village so that Hylians and Sheikah could live in peace together, but most Sheikah only came down the mountain if they didn't want to be Sheikah, if they were training abroad, for trading, or if they had completed their training and were going to the castle or other places to make lives for themselves.  
Zelda climbed the flight of stairs to her room quickly to pack her small amount of belongings. She had stopped living like a princess a month ago. Stopped wearing dresses, finding Sheikah clothing much more practical, and stopped relying on everybody around her to help her. A Sheikah's non-armor clothing was very much like a Gerudo's, except the pants were a bit less puffy, and they wore actual shirts. Zelda had been shocked to discover that most Sheikah did not wear armor constantly, although to Zelda it seemed like Impa was always wearing armor. But now that she thought about it, when they went shopping the day the Gerudo had come to sign the peace treaty Sheik had not worn armor in order to seem less threatening. Although how a six year old kid could seem threatening, Zelda didn't know. She thought Sheik was actually very cute. But she would never tell Sheik that, of course.

-0-0-0-

Three hours later, Zelda was packed and ready to go.  
She had to leave her horse, Maple, behind because she couldn't climb the mountain, but the stable boy who looked after her promised to take good care of her.  
"Ready Princess?" Impa asked, materializing out of nowhere, as she tended to do. Zelda nodded and Impa led the way to the gate that led up death mountain, now unmanned and always open.

The hike was long and treacherous, but Zelda didn't complain. Too many people had died and gone through much worse than she was, and she was going to recapture her kingdom one day and rule them all, so she definitely wasn't going to let something like this stop her.  
Impa had them stop for the night about half way up. Zelda guessed they were level with the Gorons, but they had gone off the Gorons' road a long time ago and were almost on the other side of the mountain. Zelda had always believed the Gorons to own the whole mountain, but it turned out there was more mountain, and the Gorons only owned half of it.  
After building a small fire, Impa left to go hunting, leaving a frightened Zelda alone in the semi-darkness.  
Zelda sat next to the fire and hugged her knees, watching the dancing flames quietly. Around her small animals scuttled through the darkness just outside the ring of firelight, and Zelda nervously clutched the short sword Impa had given her.  
She wondered if this was how Sheik felt right now, alone, somewhere in Ganondorf's castle, and frightened of everything.  
No, she decided. This was not how Sheik felt. Sheik must be much more frightened, she had Impa and a entire village willing to protect her with their lives. Sheik had no one. Even she and Impa had abandoned her.  
Hopelessness suddenly swamped Zelda. The Hero was asleep, Sheik was gone, she may even be dead, and here she was, running from the threat again. Like she had done when her father had died. Maybe Kakariko would be wiped off the map, and Zelda would have let it happen.  
Zelda buried her head in her hands, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. What could she do? She was a ten year old kid, trying to survive in a soon to be entirely dark world.  
She felt a hand on her shoulder and yelped, spinning around with her sword in her hand.  
"Hush Princess, it's only me." Impa sat down next to her beside the fire and began to cook the dead bird she had brought. Zelda looked away, she didn't like to see dead things, although they tasted pretty good once they were cooked.  
"Impa?" Zelda asked, still looking into the darkness a couple feet out.  
"Yes?" Impa responded, placing a few more logs into the fire.  
"Do you think all of the people in Kakariko will be okay?" Impa sat still for a moment, considering, weighing probabilities.  
"Yes. The guards at Kakariko will be able to keep it safe until I can bring word to the Sheikah. Messages have been sent to the Gorons and the Zora alerting them of our situation, but I don't know if they will be answered." Zelda nodded.  
There was silence for a few moments in which Impa tended to the dead bird.  
"Impa, we are going to build an army and take back Hyrule. We don't know when the Hero will awaken, and we cannot afford to sit idly while we wait. My people are fighting, and I will fight with them." Impa was shocked by Zelda's sudden resolve and the determination in her voice. A small smile crept onto Impa's face and she nodded.  
"Yes, Princess. But first we must get word to the Sheikah, they will surely help us." Zelda agreed.  
"But I must ask, where did that come from?"  
Zelda smiled, "Just a thought I had, it seemed like a good one." Impa nodded thoughtfully, someday Zelda would make a great ruler, but for now she was still a child and children needed their sleep.  
"Now sleep. We have many miles to cover come dawn." Impa handed Zelda a bedroll from one of their bags and Zelda laid it on a somewhat flat spot.  
"Okay. Goodnight Impa." Zelda said. Yes, Impa thought, she was going to be a wonderful queen someday.  
But first, they had to re-capture her kingdom.  
Impa leaned back against a nearby rock, preparing to keep watch throughout the night.  
Tomorrow they would reach the Sheikah camp. Impa could only hope they would be welcomed. Even she could not fight a dozen angry Sheikah, and Sheikah really were loyal to tradition, and would most likely not appreciate a Hylian among them.  
But times were changing, and the Sheikah would have to adapt. If Zelda died, Hyrule would die with her, and that would be a devastating blow to all of their neighboring countries.  
Impa sighed and let her carefully marshaled thoughts wander to Sheik.  
Sheik. The girl she had pretty much adopted. Sheik was an orphan, her parents had been killed by the monster imprisoned in the well when they had gone to assist Impa in sealing it. Sheik didn't remember Impa, she didn't know Impa had sealed the monster at the same time they had been killed.  
Impa sighed again. If Sheik died she would never forgive herself. She had been the one to let her go then, if she had said no then Sheik wouldn't have gotten captured.  
Impa felt guilt begin to form, but smothered it before it could become anything. She would not feel guilty for what she had done. She already felt bad enough for being useless when Sheik's parents had been killed, and guilt was something that made people weak.  
Impa was not weak. Hadn't it been Impa who had told Sheik so many times not to make decisions she would regret?  
Impa shoved away thoughts of Sheik, resolving to find her when she was sure Zelda was safe. For now she had to focus.  
Impa took deep breaths, letting her senses branch out and noticed everything. The sound of Zelda's gently breathing from her left, the scuttling feet of dozens of small night creatures, the beating of keese's wings in the dark.  
Three hours passed uneventfully, and Impa still sat silently keeping watch. Something was off. A strange sound had caught her attention. The sound of footsteps. Quiet, almost imperceptible.  
Impa's wakizashi slid out of it's sheath. How had they gotten so close? Only just outside the circle of light.  
Impa moved back into the light and to Zelda's side.  
"Come out." Impa ordered. Her voice was level, calm, and commanding. There was a sound of light footsteps and a figure dressed in grey and blue stepped into the circle of light.  
"Impa!" the Sheikah yelled, a big grin on his face. Impa relaxed and watched with amusement as another Sheikah emerged from the dark and playfully punched her companion.  
"What brings you and your friend to our side of the mountain?" asked the first one. Impa recognized them as the twins from the Sheikah tribe, Amur, and Anis.  
"My friend is Princess Zelda, and you will address her as such." Impa said, frowning. "We come seeking refuge and assistance." Impa admitted. The twins grinned.  
"Sure! I'm sure Emir will agree to help." one of the twins, Impa wasn't sure which one it was, said cheerfully.  
Impa opened her mouth to thank them when Zelda sat up, rubbing her eyes.  
"Impa? What's going on?" she caught sight of the other two, "Who are they?" The twins leaned around Impa to see Zelda better.  
"Good morning Princess!" they chorused.  
"Good morning..." she said uncertainly.  
"Princess, meet Amur, and Anis." Impa introduced.  
"Nice to meet you!" the twins said at the same time, extending their hands in greeting. Zelda tentatively shook them, trying to figure out which one was which.  
After introductions and explanations were complete Zelda asked if they were going back to the village.  
The twins nodded enthusiastically. Zelda smiled.  
"That's good." she yawned. "What time is it?" three pairs of crimson eyes looked toward the sky.  
"Three." answered Impa. The other two nodded in agreement.  
"You three get some sleep." Impa said.  
"We actually were sent to check on Kakariko, our look-outs spotted what looks like an army of monsters advancing on it." Amur said.  
"So we should probably keep going." Anis finished. Zelda sat back up.  
"How did you get here so quickly? Our look-outs only noticed them two days ago and only confirmed their destination this morning."  
"Secret passages." said Impa. "But we would have gotten killed as soon as they saw you if we came up in the village without warning." Zelda nodded and lay back down.  
"We can stay 'till the sun rises." Anis said, laying down near Zelda.  
Amur shrugged and lay down as well. "I guess."  
Impa went back to her rock to keep watch for the rest of the night, rubbing her head. Those twins gave her a headache. She had no idea how those two had become Sheikah warriors. They talked too much.  
But Impa couldn't help the smile that came onto her face. It was good to be home.

-0-0-0-

**A/N**

Thank you to all who read, reveiwed, followed, or favorited!  
You all make me so happy.  
I hope this chapter was acceptable, but as always, there is no way it's perfect, so reviews are greatly appreciated, especially constructive criticism.

Also, a special thank you to Hasenpheffer! (I hope I spelled your name correctly.) Who helped me fix up the previous chapter. It still isn't as good as it could be, but I will not be re-writing it at this time.  
I hope this one is better.

Thank you all so much!


	6. The First Casualties of War

Sheik was thrown from the castle onto the land below, barely missing falling to her fiery death, instead only braking her arm.  
After a few minutes Sheik dragged herself to her feet. Her body screamed at her to stop, everything hurt and she was getting dizzy, but Sheik slowly made her way to Castle Town.  
It was deserted. Not a single soul was around. Sheik grit her teeth to stop from crying in frustration. She had hoped someone could help her and it would stop hurting. She was tempted to stop there and die, she wouldn't have to help Ganondorf that way, but she understood now why everyone was afraid to die, it was fear of the unknown. What came after this world? What if it was unpleasant? If there was a Heaven or Hell, Sheik was sure she'd go to Hell for making that deal with Ganondorf, so she fought back the oh-so-tempting darkness and staggered toward the Temple of Time, hoping to run into the priest who came to take care of it.  
By the time she reached the temple, her brain had shut down in an attempt to stop the pain and Sheik was working on auto pilot. She staggered to the altar and collapsed onto the cool marble floor.  
So much had changed in her time spent in the castle. The town was deserted, monsters were everywhere, and there was an evil aura blanketing the place like fog.  
Sheik sat up again and looked around. At least the temple hadn't changed, it was still as ethereal and empty as ever.  
Sheik was about to let sleep take over when something dragged her back, telling her to open her eyes and go through to the next room. Sheik hadn't known there was another room, but she decided to listen, maybe that way the voice would leave her alone. She dragged herself painfully back to her feet and went up the stairs and into the Master Sword's room.  
The Master Sword stood majestically in it's pedestal, untouched by the thousands of years that had passed since it's making. Above it was a glowing blue crystal.  
Wait, that wasn't normal was it? Sheik moved closer trying to get a better look.  
Red eyes widened as she realized what had happened. The little fairy boy who had come to visit Zelda that day in the garden had really been the Hero of legend, he must have gotten the remaining spiritual stones and the ocarina, opened the door and tried to pull out the master sword. After that Ganondorf must have entered the sacred realm through the gate Link had created and taken the Triforce. That was what had caused the massive power surge Sheik had felt while in captivity.  
She continued to stare until her vision blurred and she collapsed. This time nothing woke her up, and she slept.

-0-0-0-

Something flipped Sheik onto her back, causing burns there to sting painfully. Whimpering in protest, Sheik struggled to open her eyes and regain her hold on the conscious world.  
"Why are you here?" someone asked, their voice sounded very dangerous. Sheik recognized that voice, and relief washed over her.  
Trying to speak and finding it impossible, Sheik opened her eyes and blinked up at her master, trying to focus on her face. Thankfully, when Impa met her eyes she recognized her.  
"Sheik?" she asked, hurriedly kneeling down next to her.  
Sheik nodded, still unable to speak.  
Abruptly Impa pulled her into a hug, which was very unusual for her.  
"Thank the Goddesses your alive." then she let go of Sheik and glanced up at the hero.  
"Nobody has come here, right?" Impa asked. Sheik shook her head and sat up, hating the way the world spun when she moved.  
"Get up Sheik, we have to return to Zelda." Sheik stood, shaking slightly. Her vision was blurring and she wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to stay awake. Impa took her arm and cast Farore's Wind, teleporting them to the top of Death mountain.  
"Before we return, we will visit the Great Fairy." Impa half dragged Shiek into the fairy's fountain and deposited her on the step in front of the water.  
Pulling an ocarina from a hidden pocket in her armor, Impa played the song passed down by the royal family, unofficially called Zelda's Lullaby.  
With a horrible screeching laugh the Great Fairy emerged from her fountain.  
"Oh! Lady Impa! It's been a long time since I have seen you." Impa nodded acknowledgement and pointed to Sheik. The fairy looked at her and frowned.  
"Is that young Sheik? Whatever happened? This is quite a large task and will take some time, but I should be able to heal her and erase most of the scars." the fairy offered.  
Impa nodded and stepped back to allow the fairy to do her work.  
About ten minutes later Sheik was healed. All the scars were gone except for the one on her face, which the fairy said was "stuffed full of dark magic."  
After thanking the Great Fairy and picking up the unconscious Sheik, Impa teleported them to the Sheikah village.  
Upon their arrival several Sheikah children about Sheik's age crowded around Impa.  
"Hello Lady Impa!" they yelled, then they saw Sheik and began to question and panic about her state of health. A few who were not training to become warriors thought she was dead and started crying.  
Impa mentally reprimanded herself for teleporting right into the middle of the village, and made her way back to her hut as quickly as she could.

-0-0-0-

The next day Sheik was up and moving again. Zelda had taken it upon herself to take care of Sheik while Impa helped with the other Sheikah warriors' training and other things around the village.  
The first thing Zelda did when Sheik had eaten breakfast was show her what she had learned from Impa. Then they walked around the village so Zelda could show Sheik her friends, and in turn meet the few people Sheik considered friends. She hadn't lived here long, only four years, most of which she couldn't remember, before her parents had died and Impa had taken her to Hyrule Castle.  
Three days passed and they received news from Kakariko that Ganondorf's army had arrived, and it was likely that the battle would begin at dawn the next day.  
When Zelda heard she and Sheik began to gather the Sheikah with healing abilities to go down the mountain and help treat the injured as soon as the battle was over. They had remained in the Sheikah village to tend to the Sheikah returning from missions. Most were severely injured.  
They could get to Kakariko through the Sheikah's secret passages in a day if the hurried, so Zelda took the medical team, three warriors, Impa and Sheik down to help.  
They arrived just as the battle was coming to a close.  
The stairs leading into Kakariko were covered with bodies of both monsters and humans, but it looked like the Hylian army was winning, and were pushing Ganondorf's army back and out into the field.  
The Hylian force was small, so the thin passage leading into the village were their best defense.  
Impa took Zelda to her house in Kakariko and stayed their with the medics until the battle was over.  
As they watched from one of the windows, Sheik noticed a lizalfos sneak past the soldiers and run toward the well.  
A single lizalfos could do a lot of damage since the people who could fight were on the steps.  
"I'll be right back." Sheik said to Zelda before running out of the door.  
She had gotten new armor and weapons from Impa, the fairy had entirely healed her, and with three days of rest she was sure she could fight. The other Shiekah warriors were fighting, and Impa was guarding Zelda, so she was the logical choice to go and eliminate this threat.  
Sheik drew her two new dual long knives and charged the creature. Screams came from the houses where the inhabitants of Kakariko were hiding, mostly children and women, but some shop keepers too. It seemed like everyone from Castle Town had relocated here and were now panicking.  
Catching up with the lizalfos, Sheik tried to stab it through the back, but it noticed her at the last second and threw itself to the side.  
Sheik turned to face it, readying her knives. The two launched into a flurry of strikes and blocks, dodging blades and dancing around one another.  
Zelda watched in awe from the window. It was amazing that a seven year old could fight like that. As she watched the lizalfos slashed Sheik's arm. She was a bit slower than usual, Zelda observed, but her armor stopped the attack from cutting her.  
The lizalfos took Sheik's temporary pause in attack to run the last few feet to the well and throw something small and black down it.  
A moment later Sheik ran her knife through the lizalfos' chest and into it's heart, killing it instantly.  
Panting, Sheik returned to the house.  
Zelda cheered, and Impa whacked her over the head.  
"Idiot. You just recovered from near death, and are not at your best. You shouldn't fight such a dangerous creature. Lizalfos are very fast, you could be dead." Sheik nodded and apologized then went to fix the tear in her armor. The thin chain mail underneath had stopped the blade from going through, but her arm would be bruised and the leather was torn.  
An hour later, the battle was over.  
The Hylians had won, but there were many casualties.  
Everyone had some sort of injury, and ten people had been killed. Impa said it was less than usual, and they should be grateful, but Zelda disagreed.  
"In war there are always casualties." Impa told Sheik while the healers moved about tending to the injured, "The trick is making sure you are not among them."  
Sheik had been horrified and had cried her eyes out over the many deaths, and after a half hour Impa had come over and said,  
"Don't cry anymore after this. Before this is over there will be much more death." then she had walked away, leaving Sheik shocked and lonely.

-0-0-0-

Some time later Zelda came with dinner, her eyes puffy and red from crying as well.  
"Impa told me not to cry anymore." Sheik said.  
Zelda said nothing and Sheik accepted her silence without question.  
The rest of the night was spent in silence. Zelda and Sheik shared the guest room in Impa's house, taking slight comfort in one another's presence.  
"I hope the Hero wakes up soon." Zelda whispered.  
Sheik hoped he would too. But that might take years. Impa said Link was really a Hylian and not a Kokiri, but it would still be a long time before he was old enough to take up the sword of legend and vanquish the evil plaguing the land, and Sheik may not have years.  
The terms of Sheik and Ganondorf's contract flashed through Sheik's mind before she drifted off into an troubled sleep.  
Oh well, Sheik decided, for now she was safe here with her best friend and the closest thing she had to family.

-0-0-0-

A/N  
A kind of bad ending to the chapter I think, but for lack of anything better that's the way it is. It also doesn't flow quite right. Oh well.

Please review!


	7. Public Speaking

**A/N**  
Thank you to Frog nut for reviewing! Thanks to you I decided to update now instead of Saturday, so in answer to your question, yes, I will be updating soon. If I don't run out of time or ideas I will update once a week, probably on Saturday.

Since I'm doing this I also want to thank Hasenpfeffer for being the first reviewer and for reviewing every chapter! I would not have gotten this far without you.

Also, I will be re-writing most of the other chapters, I already finished chapter one and have posted it, so if anyone wants to re-read it and tell me if it's better, that would be very helpful.

-0-0-0-

Another month passed and Zelda had begun recruiting people into her army.  
Sheik was back to training under Impa and the other Sheikah who had stayed in Kakariko Village, and Hylian soldiers who had escaped from the castle were helping to train new soldiers who were slowly trickling in. Zelda was now ten, and training part time with Sheik as well as learning how to rule a country and behave like a princess.  
The Gorons and Zora had returned Zelda's letter saying that they would assist her in her cause, and both would have a standing army encase they were attacked as well.  
The children who now lived in Kakariko were back to playing in the streets and the shop keepers and game owners were back to ripping people off, but everyone seemed frightened, always looking over their shoulders in fear.  
None the less, when Sheik and Zelda had a day of vacation they left their head quarters at Impa's Kakariko house to play with the other village children.  
"Excuse me," Zelda said politely. The children stopped in their game of monkey in the middle and all bowed or curtsied to her before asking what she needed.  
"May we play with you?"  
The children glanced from her to Sheik, who was standing behind her, in fear. Zelda watched curiously. Why would they be afraid of Sheik?  
The eldest child cautiously nodded, casting one more fearful glance at Sheik.  
Zelda thanked them enthusiastically and joined the game.  
It was pretty simple, the children were split into three teams, two stood across from each other and the third stood in the middle and tried to catch the ball the other two teams threw between them. The goal for the "monkeys in the middle" was to catch the ball so they could get to the outside.  
Both Sheik and Zelda were very good at this game, being able to jump higher and move faster than the other kids.  
After some time Zelda began to realize that none of the children wanted to go near Sheik, no matter which team she was on, they always stayed as far away as possible.  
Frowning, Zelda asked one of her teammates why they did this.  
"Well, your highness," the child began uncertainly, "your friend, the Sheikah is a bit scary. He's got a creepy scar... and wears armor all the time. And they tried to kill all the Hylians you know. In the Civil War..." she trailed off upon seeing the horrified look on Zelda's face.  
"I'm sorry..." the child said, scurrying back to her friends. Zelda walked to a crate and climbed on top of it angrily. Setting her hands on her hips she said loudly;  
"Do all of you think Sheik is scary?" the kids looked up at her and one by one they slowly nodded.  
"And do you all think the Sheikah tried to kill us all?" again there were hesitant nods.  
"Well your wrong! I have no idea why you think Sheik is scary, it's just a scar," Sheik touched he scar self-consciously as Zelda took a breath, "but the Sheikah did not try to kill us all. The Hylians were actually the ones that started the Civil war, because they feared the Sheikah's ability to simply vanish." a sad look came across Zelda's face. "We were scared of them, so we tried to eliminate them." by now Sheik had snapped out of her surprise and ran over to the crate Zelda stood on, whispering urgently to her.  
"Princess stop, please. They don't need their faith in our government shaken anymore right now. You need the people to trust and believe in you, so don't say things that make you look bad."  
"But what about you?" Zelda whispered back.  
"I'm fine, it doesn't matter if they're scared of me." Zelda opened her mouth to protest, but saw the truth in Sheik's words and stopped. She silently stepped off of the crate and took Sheik's hand, leading her quickly away from the group.  
"Don't be sad." Sheik said when she saw Zelda looking at the ground. "It's not your problem or your fault." Zelda shook her head.  
"Of course it's my problem! I can't have everyone being afraid of my best friend!" Sheik shook her head.  
"That little girl said your scar was scary." Zelda said sadly. "If that's how the next generation thinks about injury, we're going to have a big problem on our hands with the upcoming war." Sheik agreed and told her to tell Impa what she had learned, and after Zelda left, Sheik went to her room and sat on her bed, absently strumming a old Sheikah hymn on her harp.  
Suddenly an idea struck her. Standing up, she dug around in her clothing box before pulling out an old white cloak, which she carefully cut into strips.  
After sewing together the strips she had cut into a long scarf, Sheik wrapped the scarf around the lower half of her face, hiding the scar. If nobody saw the scar, people wouldn't be afraid of her, right? Sheik knew it was a childish thing to do, but she was still a child, she was entitled to some childish behavior.  
Sheik stood in front of a mirror, examining her handiwork. She deemed it acceptable and went outside to practice with throwing knives and other weapons to test its practicality.  
As she practiced many thoughts passed through her mind, most prominent among them thoughts of her deal with Ganondorf.  
If he called on her she would have to do whatever he said, and it would no doubt be something bad.  
She could tell Impa, but if she did Ganondorf would kill her and everyone she cared about.  
She could leave, but she couldn't survive on her own and as she had discovered when she had first been let out of Ganondorf's castle, she really didn't want to die.  
Unable to come up with a solution, she decided to plan her next couple of days, something more manageable.  
Impa had given her the task of checking on the Hero once a month, which she had done a few days ago, and Zelda had asked her to check on the inhabitance of Lon Lon Ranch next time she went to see the Hero.  
After practicing for anther forty-five minutes, Sheik heard Zelda calling her from her room.  
Sheik stuck her head through the door first, cautiously looking around the room. Zelda sat at her desk, chewing on the end of a snow white quill, a blank sheet of paper before her, around her lay crumpled up bits of paper with lines of Zelda's elegant writing across them.  
Assured that Zelda was not going to throw anything at her as she sometimes did when in a bad mood, Sheik stepped the rest of the way into the room and walked up to stand behind her, careful to make some noise before reaching her to alert Zelda of her presence.  
"I can't do this, Sheik..." Zelda groaned, rolling her head to the side so she could see. Sheik picked up one of the crumpled bits of paper and read it.  
"Your writing a speech?" asked Sheik. Zelda nodded.  
"But I don't know what to write." Sheik re-read the speech, this one was too lengthy, with a very unnecessary amount of filler and never actually got to the point.  
"Help me?" Sheik nodded and pulled another chair up to Zelda's desk. Zelda picked up her quill and Sheik began to bounce ideas off of her, sometimes dictating what she should write.  
By the time Impa had come home three hours later they had the finished product. This speech was meant to encourage her coming troops and to convince them to fight for her and their cause of recapturing their kingdom.  
Standing up and stretching, Zelda picked up the paper and took it to show Impa.  
"It looks like one of fathers speeches right?" Zelda asked. Impa read it over then nodded.  
"This will be fine." she said. "Have you assigned any commanders yet?" Zelda shook her head.  
"I was hoping you could help me with that, be the commander in chief since I don't really know much about war." Impa nodded, then turned back to the pot of stew she was cooking.  
"I will see to it that your army has it's leaders." Impa promised.

-0-0-0-

Two months later Zelda's troops had arrived and been signed up for the army. Six thousand men and boys from all across Hyrule had answered her call and come to Kakariko. Another four thousand had come from the Gorons, Zora, and Sheikah.  
Standing before ten thousand people, Zelda felt scared. She had never really been afraid or disliked crowds like Sheik did, but here, with so many people looking to her as their leader, she was scared.  
To her right stood Impa, to her left Sheik, behind her in a half circle stood her advisors and the commanders Impa had picked.  
Zelda licked her lips and opened her mouth to speak. Instantly every one of the people below her were silent, looking up at her with a mix of skepticism and expectancy.  
"People of Hyrule! People of the Zora, and of the Gorons and of the Sheikah!" Zelda began. Her voice wavered a bit, but she took a deep breath and continued.  
"As you may know, the evil Gerudo king Ganondorf has taken the castle and killed my father, the king. But that does not mean we must all bend to his wicked will. I called you all here to ask that you stand beside me and fight to take back our kingdom!  
The Hero of Hyrule has returned, and we must all stand with him if we want to win back our country.  
Soon we will be engaged in a great war, already ten of our brothers have given their lives for our cause, and though many more will die before this is over," she took another deep breath before continuing, "I believe that we can win! Let us raise our weapons and recapture our homes! For our Families, for our futures, and for our lives!" Zelda yelled, her voice now strong and confident. Cheers broke out throughout the crowd, and for a moment everyone forgot that they were following a eleven-year-old girl into a war, that they were relying on a child to get them through the hard times that were to come. Zelda had said what they wanted and needed to hear, and they were happy.  
Zelda glanced at Impa, a question in her eyes. Did I do alright?  
Impa nodded, a small smile on her face.  
She glanced over at Sheik and then to her advisors. All of them were clapping, Sheik smiled at her, a very small smile, but Zelda was glad she approved. Looking back to the cheering crowd she couldn't help but feel a bit proud. Her words held magic, a special magic that gave hope to the people.  
And in the coming years, they were certainly going to need it.

**A/N**  
Sorry if this chapter was a bit pointless, but I had fun writing it, although my speech writing skills need quite a bit of work...  
Reviews greatly appreciated!


	8. I'm Here to Ruin Your Party

A year later, Ganondorf still hadn't done anything drastic, Zelda's army was now a legitimate army, trained and ready for battle.  
Today was another day of training for Zelda's army and Sheik was training alongside them. At least until eight in the morning, at which time Impa came and taught Sheik about poisons, magic, and then how to fight, since the soldiers method of fighting was very different from the Sheikah's, and as Impa had said, unrefined.  
Two hours of sparring with Impa later Sheik found herself sprawled out on the cool green grass with Zelda rambling on about a party of something beside her.  
Her muscles were sore and she was exhausted, and as a result, not interested in listening to Zelda rant.  
"Sheik!" Zelda snapped, apparently noticing her lack of attention.  
"Hmm?" Sheik didn't bother opening her eyes.  
"Where you even paying attention? I was telling you about the party." Oh, right. Party. Sheik struggled to recall more of the conversation, but only remembered that there was supposed to be a party tomorrow, a birthday party, she thought.  
"You weren't, were you?" Zelda sighed in annoyance, and stood up, brushing off the skirt she was currently wearing, she had started acting like a princess again so the people respected her.  
Then Sheik remembered why Zelda was telling her this. Tomorrow was her birthday, it must be her birthday party. Sitting up abruptly, Sheik stood as well.  
"Wait Princess, I don't want a party."  
"Tough." Zelda said, turning away and heading back toward the Village. "There will be a party."

-0-0-0-

Sheik sat on a cliff overlooking Kakariko Village, the sun was beginning it's descent and she guessed soon it would be time to go back. And that was what she was currently dreading. If she went back there would be people and parties to deal with, but if she stayed out here in the mountains surrounding Kakariko Village and spent the rest of the day training, then snuck back to her house in the cover of darkness she could completely avoid any mentions of parties, except that if she did that Zelda would order Impa to get her and drag her back if necessary. And Sheik was sure Impa would find her.  
So, Sheik concluded, the least painful choice was to go back peacefully and spend the rest of her night dealing with the party noise and people.  
With a sigh, Sheik stood up and shouldered the bag with all of her weapons. Closing her eyes, she mentally prepared herself for what was to come, then descended the mountain, keeping off the roads and doing her best to take as long as possible.  
She arrived to see Kakariko Village lit up like it was the king's coronation, with people all dressed up in colorful gowns and dress tunics.  
Zelda spotted her as soon as she walked through the gate and ran over, a big smile lighting up her countenance.  
"I thought you'd run off!" Zelda said. "I was about to send Impa after you." If Sheik had made a bet she would have just won.  
"Go put on something nice." Zelda said, herding her into Impa's house.  
Sheik reluctantly dug through her clothing chest and came up with a simple dark blue tunic with a silver Sheikah Eye embroidered into the back and black pants. After some arguing Zelda relented and let her wear it instead of the dress she had chosen, for which Sheik thanked the Goddesses.  
Then Zelda insisted on un-braiding her hair and brushing it, then weaving it into a fancy braid Zelda had learned from her etiquette teacher back at the castle.  
"Your hair is so pretty." Zelda said. "I wish my hair would grow as long as yours." (This Sheik looks a bit like TP/SSBB Sheik.) Sheik made an indifferent noise, she didn't particularly care about her hair, she would have cut it short except that Zelda had cried and begged her not to last time she had tried, telling her to keep it long and to "never, ever cut it."  
Finally Zelda was satisfied with the way she looked and allowed her to leave the house and join the party.  
"What did you tell everyone we're celebrating?" Sheik asked as they left the house. There was no way this many people were here to celebrate a Sheikah's birthday. People were afraid of the Sheikah, the shadows of the kingdom.  
"I told them it was my best friend Sheik's birthday!" she said, giggling like the little girl she was. Or would have been if she were not the ruler of a broken kingdom.  
Sheik found it hard to believe that anyone actually knew who she was, and guessed that the people had come because their princess had said so and because it was a party, not in her honor at all.

Throughout the night people who knew Sheik wished her a happy birthday, most of them were her sheikah friends who had remained in Kakariko after the first attack and now practiced with her. The others were Zelda's commanders, a few castle guards who recognized her as the little kid who had played with Zelda around the castle, and Impa.  
Eventually Zelda got caught up with the other people and Sheik slipped away to find a quiet place to get away from the people.  
She eventually settled on the roof of the House of Skulltula and took a deep breath of the fresh night air.  
Up here the Village looked beautiful, full of color and light. It looked almost like Castle Town had before Ganondorf came. The sound of a band singing some hyrulian folk song reached her ears, and the happy, bubbly sound of voices drifted on the wind.  
She was glad that people seemed to be recovering. People wanting to join Zelda's army and refugees still turned up at their gates every now and then, but for the most part everyone was rebuilding their lives and moving on.  
"Nice night isn't it?" somebody asked. Sheik jumped and spun around, hand flying to the knife hidden in the folds of her tunic. How had this person managed to sneak up on her?  
"Jeez, no need to be so jumpy." the person pushed back their white hood, revealing fiery red hair and tanned skin, similar to her own. A gerudo.  
"What do you want?" Sheik hissed.  
"I was sent to give you a message." the gerudo said, dropping onto the roof next to where Sheik had been sitting and looking out over the village below.  
"Sit down. I won't hurt you." Sheik cautiously sat down a few feet to her left, knife still drawn. The Gerudo passed her a letter, it was unmarked except for the blood red seal with a burning Gerudo symbol pressed into it.  
"Don't read it yet." the Gerudo said, looking away from the party below and back to Sheik. "It's from Lord Ganondorf and will no doubt ruin the rest of your day, since I'm sure you aren't really fond of him. I'm Nabooru, by the way, leader of the Gerudo. Although now I guess that would be Ganondorf." she sighed. "So, I take it your the Sheikah, you certainly match the description I was given, although not wearing the traditional armor."  
"I am Sheikah." she confirmed. Sheik was still suspicious, but had sheathed her knife.  
"Do you have a name?" Nabooru inquired.  
"Sheik." There was no point in giving a false name since they could obviously find her, even when she was in the current safest place in the country.  
"Sheik of the Sheikah." Nabooru grinned. "That has a nice ring to it, kind of unoriginal though." she looked back down at the party thoughtfully. "I would join the party, but I suspect I would be killed on sight." she sighed and lay back on the roof, closeing her eyes.  
Sheik sat and watched her curiously. She'd never met a person like this. Nabooru didn't seem to want to hurt anyone, and yet she was the enemy. She had stated that she knew Sheik's past with Ganondorf, knew that she didn't like him, so why was she lying there so at ease?  
"What makes you think I won't kill you right now?" asked Sheik abruptly. "I'm the enemy, aren't I?" Nabooru cracked open one luminescent yellow eye.  
"Not really. You see, I don't particularly like Ganondorf either. Just between you and me, I think he is just a overpowered brat. But even so, we both have to serve him, and if you kill me, you and everyone you love will die." Sheik was surprised to hear her speak that way about her king, and also to hear her view, but continued to listen quietly. "But unlike you, my purpose in this whole mess has already been determined, and to complete it I have to obey Ganondorf. Anyway, it's not like I can just abandon my people." she concluded. There was a moment of silence, then Nabooru stood up and walked to the opposite end of the roof.  
"Happy birthday, Sheik. I hope we can meet again sometime, preferably under less serious circumstances. I think we could be good friends." she winked, then smashed a small crystal onto the ground and was wrapped in a red light before disappearing.  
Sheik watched the place where she had vanished for a few seconds, unsure what to make of this Gerudo.  
Then, remembering the letter, she looked down at the crisp white envelope. Fear caused hyperactive butterflies to flutter around in her stomach, and made her want to throw the letter away and run. She almost did just that, but suddenly Impa appeared behind her and she hurriedly stuffed the letter inside her tunic.  
"What are you doing up here all alone?" she asked.  
"Enjoying the peace." Sheik said, quickly covering up her fear. Impa smiled at her and walked up to stand beside her.  
"It is beautiful up here." Sheik nodded. Suddenly the incredibly strong urge to tell Impa everything descended on her. She clenched and unclenched her fists to help dissipate the feeling, doing her best to maintain a neutral look.  
"What's wrong?" Impa asked, seeing Sheik clenching and unclenching her fists.  
"Nothing." Sheik forced her voice to sound normal and calm, but she couldn't fool Impa.  
"That's a lie and we both know it. If you have something you need to say, I will listen." Impa said. She laid a comforting hand on Sheik's shoulder.  
"I know you are worried about everything that's going on, but you have to realize that the weight of the world does not rest on your shoulders alone." then she left. Simply leapt off the roof and rejoined the crowed below.  
Sheik sat down and curled in on herself, hugging her knees. Impa seemed to always know what to say, even if she was a bit over dramatic with her words, but this time what Sheik needed to hear also made her feel so small and weak.  
How could she not be worried? The most evil man in all of Hyrule currently was king, and Sheik had to serve that man or everyone would die.  
She sat silently in the dark for awhile, rocking back and fort and counting her breaths to calm herself.  
Eventually she decided she was calm enough and shakily tore open the envelope and read it, she didn't need much light to see and had no problem reading the neat little letters written on the page.

Tell me where the Forest Temple is and how to get there.  
When you have the information, come to my castle.

Sheik stared at the letter for a moment, relief washing over her. She had been afraid that she would be asked to kill somebody or tell him the location of the Hero. This was just an old, unused temple, right? It couldn't be that bad.  
She folded the letter back up neatly and shoved it to the back of her mind, determined to enjoy the rest of her birthday.  
She would look in Impa's library later and find the necessary information, then deliver it next time she went to see the Hero.  
With a clear plan of action, Sheik felt slightly better, and after taking a moment to breath and calm herself down entirely, Sheik leapt back down to join the party.

**A/N**

Thank you all for reading and reviewing!  
I got a guest review I wanted to respond to, so I will respond to it here.

Nikki: Sorry, but Link won't wake up for awhile . And I can't tell you what personality he will have, that would be a spoiler.

I hope this chapter was more interesting, next chapter should be, if I do it correctly.  
Constructive criticism is greatly encouraged!


	9. Music of the Forest

The next few weeks were full of harsh training and long nights of research for Sheik.  
Impa was adamant that she learn all of the elemental magics before the year was out, and she doubted that Ganondorf would take kindly to a delayed report.  
Sheik saw little of Zelda in those weeks, as she was also wrapped up in her own studies and trying to plan their next move since Ganondorf hadn't done anything and they were feeling ready to take the initiative.  
This was one such night were Sheik was sitting in the dark library with only a single lamp for light and a cup of tea for company, studying one of the many thick and dusty volumes of Kokiri lore. There wasn't much that was fact, since the Kokiri, or anyone who had contact with the Kokiri seldom wrote books or told anyone what they knew.  
She already had two pages on the Lost Woods that she had copied from the books, and a half page on the temple itself, but she had learned of a intriguing legend through her search, and was currently reading that, trying to determine what was fact, and what was fiction.  
The legend seemed to be a continuation of the legend of the three goddesses and the Triforce, this one about the seven Sages. It was very much like the legend passed down by the Sheikah;

When evil rules all, an awakening voice from the Sacred Realm will call those destined to be Sages, who dwell in the five temples.  
One in a deep forest...  
One on a high mountain...  
One under a vast lake...  
One within the house of the dead...  
One inside a goddess of the sand...  
Together with the Hero of Time, the awakened ones will bind the evil and return the light of peace to the world.

That ancient Sheikah legend had been told to Sheik many times as something of a bedtime story, but with Impa as the closest thing you had to a mother, you didn't get real bedtime stories.  
The only difference between the Sheikah story and the one Sheik was currently reading was that there were seven Sages, the Sixth, a Hylian, remained in the Sacred Realm as the last line of defense for the Triforce. The last one is only mentioned briefly, and has no story nor detail attached.  
Sheik copied this story, along with notes on her own knowledge, onto a piece of paper and tucked it away. Ganondorf didn't need to know about how much power the temples and Sages held.  
Although, he probably already knew, since he'd bothered to ask.  
Another two hours and Sheik's research was complete. She guessed it was about three in the morning. Gathering up all of her paper, quills, ink, and other miscellaneous items she had brought with her, she silently made her way through her house and back to her room.  
She stashed the papers under her pillow, then fell into bed and was instantly asleep.

-0-0-0-

Three more days passed and Sheik had completed the letter she would give to Ganondorf. It had how to get to the Forest Temple, as asked, and it's location; in the Lost Woods.  
She sealed the letter the day before she left, writing King Ganondorf on the front and leaving the letter unsigned.  
Now she stood in front of Impa's house, the first rays of light just beginning to appear over the horizon.  
"Be careful Sheik." Zelda commanded, giving her friend a hug.  
"I will." Sheik promised. Zelda always was concerned when Sheik left the village. After being imprisoned for two months by the person who's nose she was about to sneak under, that was understandable. Sheik frowned beneath her scarf. If only they knew what she had done to escape.  
"See you soon." Zelda said, releasing Sheik and stepping back. Nodding, she lifted her deku nut and smashed it onto the hard earth. When Zelda was able to look back, Sheik was gone.

-0-0-0-

Sheik reappeared just outside the Temple of Time and walked inside to stand in front of the Hero's crystal.  
"Good morning, Hero." Sheik greeted. She had developed a habit of talking to Link when she came, if only because she could tell him anything and he wouldn't respond, judge, or remember any of it when he awoke.  
"It's been over a year now since you went to sleep. Since then things have only gotten worse. The princess's army is now in working order and will soon be deployed to recapture some of the nearby towns." Sheik looked up at the sleeping boy. "But Ganondorf has also made a move. He contacted me last month to get him information about the Forest Temple." a thought randomly occurred to her. "That's where your from, isn't it? Kokiri Forest, near the Lost Woods." she sighed. "If only you would just wake up." Sheik turned and walked out of the temple, she had somewhere else she needed to be. Somewhere she really didn't want to go.

The castle had become even more ominous and dark since Sheik had last seen it. Now it also had some architectural changes.  
At the edge of the pit beneath the castle was a Gerudo dressed in purple.  
"You! Sheikah!" the Gerudo called. "Do you have the information?" Sheik nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. The Gerudo called up to someone on top of the floating island and they dropped a ladder.  
"Up." commanded the Gerudo. Sheik climbed the ladder quickly, then was taken by the other guard through the castle that had once been her home and into the throne room, all too aware of the naginata at her back the entire way.  
Once the double doors had closed behind her, Ganondorf turned to face her, a devilish smirk on his face. He seemed to be less human now, his skin a strange greenish color instead of it's natural tanned one.  
"Well, if it isn't my little Sheikah friend." Ganondorf said. Sheik bowed to him, going down on one knee as she had been told to by the Gerudo guard on the way up.  
"Did you do as I asked?" Sheik nodded, handing him the envelope with the information inside it without raising her head.  
Ganondorf read it, his wicked smile growing even wider, if that were possible.  
"In the Lost Woods? How perfect. Have you heard the stories about that place, little Sheikah? They say anyone who goes in, never comes out again." he laughed and then returned his gaze to Sheik.  
"You and my best servant will go and imprison the Sage that lives in that temple. I'm sure you've heard that legend." he clapped and the Gerudo who had brought Sheik the first letter, Nabooru, came from a hidden room behind the throne. She walked to the front of the throne and knelt next to Sheik, bowing her head to the king.  
"You know what your mission is, now get out, both of you." Ganondorf casually flicked his wrist and sent a wave of magic into Sheik and Nabooru, knocking them both to the floor.  
They stood quickly and exited the room.  
"So we meet again." Nabooru said, leading Sheik through the halls back to the exit. Sheik nodded, doing her best to memorize the layout of the castle. Now it consisted mostly of a single tower, with the large anteroom at the bottom with several rooms branching off of it, a long spiraling staircase in the center leading through multiple rooms until it reached the top where Ganondorf's large, two story throne room was.  
They reached the entrance of the castle fairly quickly and climbed down the rope ladder that was lowered for them.  
"So, where to?" Nabooru asked, stretching.  
Sheik thought carefully. If she brought Nabooru back to Kakariko, they would probably both be killed, if she didn't Zelda would wonder where she had gone.  
"To the Forest Temple." Sheik decided Nabooru frowned.  
"Already? Don't you want to go hang out somewhere and have fun while we have some freedom from Ganondorf?" Sheik shook her head. She had friends and a duty to return to and had to finish this as soon as possible.  
"If that's what you want." Nabooru shrugged.  
So they began their journey to the Forest temple. Neither of them had been to the Lost woods or the Kokiri forest before, so they would have to ride. They got some Gerudo horses from the guards then rode for three days, stopping once at a small town that had not yet moved all it's inhabitance to Kakariko to get supplies.  
And because Nabooru wanted to get some sort of alcoholic drink that Sheik had never heard of.  
After that they continued without pause until they reached the tunnel that led into the Kokiri Forest.  
Inside, they skirted the small settlement, careful not to be seen by the Kokiri. Sheik noted with surprise that now monsters had come to inhabit the clearing as well as the Kokiri. After climbing a short cliff, they reached the tunnel that led into the Lost Woods. Nabooru led the way into the thick trees, and soon they were thoroughly lost.  
"Sooo, how do we get through here?" asked Nabooru, turning a circle and trying to find some kind of landmark. Everything looked the same in all directions, tall green trees and more tall green trees.  
"The legend says that anybody who enters the Lost Woods never leaves." Sheik said. "As far as I know, their is no way to navigate this place." Closing her eyes, she stretched out all of her senses like Impa had taught her. Sometimes, you couldn't rely on sight alone.  
Just as Sheik was becoming attuned to the music of the forest, Nabooru interrupted.  
"Kid? What are you doing?" Sheik growled silently, her mask muffled what little noise she made and hid the irritated look on her face.  
"Shh." Sheik whispered, closing her eyes again and breathing deeply. Nabooru seemed to take the hint and stayed quiet.  
Slowly, Sheik began to notice a pattern, a series of three notes repeated multiple times before altering slightly, then repeating. As she turned in a slow circle, she began to formulate a plan. The music got louder in one direction, while growing softer in the others. The louder the music, the closer to the heart of the forest, which in this case Sheik guessed that was either the Great Deku Tree or the temple. The tree was across the Kokiri's village, Sheik knew, so logically that meant the temple was in the direction of the music.  
She opened her eyes and began walking in the direction of the music.  
"Hey! Wait up!" Nabooru grabbed her backpack and hurried after Sheik.

Some time later they arrived at another tunnel. Sheik stopped abruptly, causing Nabooru to nearly crash into her.  
"This is where the music is loudest." Sheik said.  
"Music? What music?" Nabooru was confused, but oh well. She could feel the magic pouring from that tunnel and had come to the same conclusion as Sheik, the Forest Temple was just through that tunnel.  
Without a word, they drew their weapons and entered one of the most magical places in all of Hyrule.

-0-0-0-

It was peaceful.  
That was the first thing that Sheik noticed when they entered the Sacred Meadow. Everything was peaceful, natural. The small sprites that floated through the air joining together to make long chains that danced and flickered before breaking apart and moving to join new chains. The green of the trees and shrubbery, and the music. The music gave the whole scene a life and energy that one would never have understood existed in this peaceful place without it.  
"Wow." Nabooru breathed. "Wow" was as good a description as Sheik could give. There were simply no words to describe what they saw here, in any language.  
Sheik wished that Zelda and her other Sheikah friends could see this place. They would love it.  
As they stood admiring the view, a small brown rabbit hopped across the grass in front of them, birds flew circles around the clearing, and bugs chirped their strange little songs.  
Sheik pulled her harp out of her Bottomless Bag and closed her eyes again and listened to the sounds of the forest.  
The notes just poured out of her. Slender fingers gliding across the strings with long practiced ease, producing a song she had never heard, but felt old and familiar.  
Nabooru watched in wonder as glowing green spheres winked into existence and surrounded Sheik. More of the lights gathered until Sheik was entirely hidden from Nabooru's sight. The music continued even as the little glowing spheres spiral up and away, and soon, the light, music and Sheik had vanished.  
Yellow eyes blinked slowly, as the brain behind them tried to process what had just happened. And found it impossible. Nabooru could feel the lingering magic from the notes Sheik had played, and from that guessed that Sheik had teleported using that song. But how, Nabooru was unsure. As far as she knew, music was not magical, and Sheik had used no magic of her own.  
A few minutes passed as Nabooru tried to figure out how that type of magic worked before it dawned on her that she had no idea how to get through the maze that was at the far end of the clearing she was currently standing in and into the Forest Temple now that her guide was gone.  
The stupor of amazement was wearing off quickly now, and Nabooru was getting annoyed.  
"Stupid Sheikah!" she snapped at the air. "Leaving me all alone in unknown territory, if you were a Gerudo you'd be severely punished. You never leave your companions alone!" swinging one of her massive sabers up to rest on her shoulder, Nabooru walked over to the gate that led into the maze, determined to get through it with or without Sheik.

**A/N**

This didn't go as far as I wanted it to, sorry.


	10. To Fly

The walk through the maze was long and tedious, with Nabooru having to dodge or block the many flying deku nuts that the deku scrubs spat at her and getting completely turned around twice. At least these deku nuts didn't flash every time they shattered.  
"Stupid kid!" she snapped, jumping sideways out of the deku scrub's line of fire then running past it. If only Sheik hadn't vanished, she could have been used as a human shield.  
Many twists and turns and lots of cursing later, Nabooru made it to the end of the maze and stepped out into another clearing.  
Across the clearing was a stone tunnel mounted high up on the cliff face, carved with intricate designs of vines, flowers and fairies, probably the entrance to the Forest Temple.  
Below and slightly to the right on a ancient tree stump sat a Kokiri girl with green hair and a pink fairy floating around her head. She held a simple ocarina to her lips and was playing a song unfamiliar to Nabooru. In front of her sat Sheik, harp out and playing the same tune as the Kokiri girl.  
"How did you get here?!" Nabooru demanded, striding over to the Sheikah and whacking her over the head. Sheik leaned over rubbing her head before turning to look at Nabooru.  
"The music." she said simply, like it made all the sense in the world.  
"You keep saying, "the music!" How is that relevant at all!?" Nabooru was frustrated with the amount of trouble she had had getting here, and here was Sheik, a little kid, sitting and playing with fairy children like she had all the time in the world.  
"Saria is teaching me her song, it's the song that guided us here. She's the one who helped me get here." The Kokiri, Saria apparently, stood up and smiled at Nabooru.  
"Nice to meet you!" she said. "I'm Saria." Nabooru glared.  
"Did you hear the song Sheik played earlier? That's the Minuet of Forest." she giggled. "It's a very special song that teleports you here. I had to help a bit though because you can't teleport to a place you've never been. It's amazing that Sheik learned the song alone though. Usually you need to be taught, very few have such gifts as to be able to learn from the forest itself." Saria smiled at Sheik, who put away her harp and stood up.  
"Your want to go into the temple, right?" Saria asked. Nabooru nodded.  
"Okay then, just try not to break anything, oh, and watch out for the Poe Sisters." Saria warned. Nabooru grinned, this was too easy, Saria wasn't even trying to stop them.  
"Well then, lets go." Nabooru grabbed Sheik's arm and pulled her over to where it looked like a stairway had once been, now it was a crumbling mess.  
Sheik looked up at the entrance twenty feet above and backed up a few paces.  
"How do we get up?" Nabooru asked. Sheik didn't hesitate for a moment. Red eyes took in the surrounding landscape, and in less than a minute decided on a path.  
Sheik ran forwards and jumped, grabbing a tree branch near the entrance and using her momentum to fling herself the other eight feet or so to the platform above. Nabooru growled as Sheik landed gracefully and turned to wait for her. Gerudo were skilled, but even she, the best of the best, could not move like that. There was no reason to learn such skills in the desert. Instead, Nabooru jumped from tree to tree, like wall jumping, and eventually got close enough to leap across the gap and grab the ledge, pulling herself up to join Sheik.  
Without a word, Sheik led the way into the temple.

-0-0-0-

The Forest Temple was really beautiful, serene and peaceful as the rest of the forest.  
Nabooru felt kind of sad knowing she would be the one to destroy this place. When they were done the entire temple would be swarming with monsters, and not just deku scrubs and a few keese.  
They walked through the temple with no trouble at all, admiring the sights and enjoying the fresh, earthy smells that filled the place. In one room there was even a river where they stopped and ate lunch, like a real picnic.  
Eventually they reached the large room deep within the temple where the Sage was supposed to be. It was circular with red carpets covering the floor and pretty paintings of the forest hung along the walls. In the middle stood the Kokiri girl.  
"Why are you here?" Nabooru demanded, pointing her saber at the girl accusingly. Saria smiled, a sad smile, like she knew something bad was about to happen and was going to die to stop it.  
"I am the Sage of Forest. I will not let you defile this place." she informed them. A glowing green staff appeared in her small hands. "I was worried it would come to this. I don't want to fight you."  
"Too bad." said Nabooru, "Because we need to take you with us and if you aren't going to come peacefully, we'll have to force you." Nabooru hefted her own weapons and stepped forward. A short fight ensued and, predictably, the small Sage lost.  
Saria lay on the ground, the tip of Nabooru's sword at her throat.  
"Are you going to come with us peacefully now?" The small Sage shook her head slightly, careful not to get the saber through her neck, a soft green light began to surround her body, Nabooru stepped back in alarm as the magic gathered thickly around her. Saria took this opportunity to stand, and held her staff out in front of her parallel to the floor.  
"The Kokiri are a peaceful people, and the forest is not a place for violence." her now glowing green eyes turned to Sheik. "Choose your path wisely Sheik, it could change the outcome of this war." Green eyes closed and Saria's body dissolved into the light, which then condensed until it was the size of a fairy, then flew back to the center of the room and vanished.  
For awhile there was an uncertain silence.  
"We didn't get the Sage... Ganondorf 's gonna kill us." Nabooru said, her voice oddly conversational and it took a moment for Sheik to realize that she meant this quite literally.  
"We better try to find her." Nabooru continued. Sheik shook her head. Saria's presence had disappeared.  
"The Sage is gone."  
"What?! How is she just gone?" Sheik shrugged, small shoulders rising and falling indifferently. Nabooru grit her teeth in irritation.  
"Fine. I guess we'd better report back then." She grumbled and pulled a red crystal from her pocket.  
"You'd best go back to Kakariko, I'll deal with Ganondorf." Nabooru smashed the crystal, leaving Sheik alone in the temple.  
"Thank the Goddesses." Sheik whispered. The Sage was safe, the consequences might be bad for Nabooru and Sheik, but it would definitely be better for the world.  
Sheik lifted a deku nut and envisioned her home. The deku nut smashed, and Sheik vanished.

-0-0-0-

"Thank goodness your safe! It's been four days." Zelda had Sheik in a tight hug, which Sheik was struggling to get out of. Zelda was pretty strong for a princess.  
"Yeah." Sheik said, patting her shoulder. If this kept up she would suffocate. Impa chose this moment to walk into the room. She stopped in the doorway, arms crossed and a smile on her lips.  
"You skipped four days of training, Sheik." she scolded, but the smile took the threat out of her words.  
Two other Sheikah stepped out from behind Impa and ran to join the hug. Sheik recognized them as Amur and Anise, friends from when Sheik was still living in the Sheikah village. They had also come to the castle a few times. Apparently they had just come back from their mission escorting a farmer carrying flour, beans and rice to Kakariko back to their farm. For a moment Sheik felt guilty about leaving Nabooru to deal with Ganondorf and come here where she had friends to welcome her home. She wondered if Nabooru had a family and friends.  
"Hey Sheik, long time no see!" Amur - or at least Sheik thought it was Amur, it was kind of hard to tell when they were wearing armor and their faces and hairstyles were nearly exactly the same - interrupted her thoughts. Sheik smiled and made a noise that sounded similar to a greeting, since an actual greeting required more air than she currently possessed. Zelda seemed to notice this and let go.  
They all sat down on the large pillows placed on the floor, which were meant for this purpose, and Zelda left to make tea, a drink she and Sheik consumed way to much of, and they all spent the rest of the afternoon talking and playing childish games in Impa's main room, catching up on the years they had missed while Sheik was at the castle.

When morning came again, all four children followed Impa to the gate that led up to Death Mountain where they met up with the twins' mentors, Izzati and Haytham. They greeted one another briefly, then set a quick pace for their morning run, which was also intended to get them to their destination.  
Sheik and the twins took off after their mentors, with Zelda only a second behind. She still wasn't quite used to reading what the Sheikah would do next.  
"Race ya! called Amur. His twin grinned and ran harder, speeding up to overtake her brother. Sheik picked up a bit of speed too, and soon all three had passed their mentors, who were watching with amusement, knowing full well that all three would tire before they finished their run. Zelda ran harder as well, just enough to catch up to Sheik, who was about five feet behind the other two.  
About halfway, the twins began to slow down, dropping back so they were level with Zelda and Sheik. Impa, Haytham and Izzati were now making bets on who would win.  
Half an hour later their destination came into view, a large, round area imprinted into the top of one of the smaller peaks of the mountain range, like a giant Goron had stepped on it and crushed it's top.  
Sheik couldn't see the bottom of the crater yet, but she knew it would be covered in wildflowers and have a thin stream running through it. Before she had seen the Lost Woods and the Kokiri Forest, Sheik had thought it the most beautiful place in all of Hyrule. The Sheikah often used it as a training ground.  
Fifty meters from the small winding passage that cut through the mountain they were currently on and connected it to the other mountain, the Sheikah began to sprint, running harder than they had the entire hour and a half long trip.  
The passage was only wide enough for one person to fit through at a time, so whoever reached it first had a 98% chance of winning.  
Anis reached it first, poking her brother as she ran past. Amur yelped and flinched away from her finger, slowing down slightly and giving Sheik and Zelda an opportunity to run past. Anis laughed as she ran into the passage, sure she would win.  
Sheik smirked beneath her mask and leapt up onto the wall of the passage, which was only three feet tall, but that was far enough that Anis couldn't push her off into the abyss below. The abyss was also the reason nobody ran on the wall, but Sheik was confident she wouldn't fall.  
Sheik and Anis ran neck in neck for a few seconds, the end of the bridge almost upon them, then Sheik leapt down in front of Anis. Sheik knew she was faster, and proved it true once again as she raced into the field and ran a circle around it to give herself time to gradually slow down.  
Anis threw herself to the ground with a annoyed noise and rolled a few feet, which effectively stopped her movement.  
Zelda came through next, Amur practically on top of her. Both collapsed at Sheik's feet next to Anis, panting hard.  
Some time during all of this their mentors had come in and were now standing in front of them, prodding those on the ground with their toes.  
"Come on, get up." Haytham said. There were groans as they pulled themselves to their feet and reached for their canteens.  
"So, who won?" Izzati asked. Anise groaned.  
"Sheik. Again." Impa smiled as both Izzati and Haytham handed over a blue rupee. Then the mentors became serious and Haytham said;  
"Okay, enough playing around. Today your going to learn how to fly." Flight was a valuable skill, but all the others who had learned said it was very difficult. Amur and Anise thought it would be easy, and so volunteered to try first.  
It was nice to be back to normal training. Sheik thought.

**A/N**

Sorry I'm doing such a bad job, I am really trying to fix it though, so I hope the next few chapters are more interesting.


	11. Defend The People

Learning how to fly proved to be simpler than it sounded. That isn't to say it was easy to do, just easier to understand.  
Flying was like teleporting, it used wind magic to hold you in the sky and move you as you pleased.  
The key was imagining perfectly what you wanted, down to the last detail. That meant knowing how you wanted it to affect you, how long you wanted it to last, and what exactly you wanted it to do.  
You would think that was easy, but it wasn't. And so, Impa and the other two tutors demonstrated multiple times their own methods of flying.  
Izzati used wings, Haytham had the mixture of wind and magic wind around his boots and help him float, and Impa wrapped herself in the wind, having an effect similar to swimming, or walking without the ground.  
"Cool!" Amur and Anis chorused. Zelda nodded enthusiastically in agreement. They spent the remainder if they day practicing with wings, which seemed to be the easiest for the young Sheikah and Hylian to create.  
Their training lasted for two weeks, by which time they were all capable of lifting of the ground, flying a few circles then they usually ran out of magic or lost focus and fell to the ground. Now they were working on magical dexterity and control.  
Somehow in the long days of practicing Zelda managed to attend five war meetings, help organize the construction of a hospital, they were sure they were going to need one, and still attend all of the practices.  
The day came to check on Link again, and Sheik prepared to leave.  
"We have another escort mission soon, so we might not be here when you get back." Amur had said. Sheik had been kind of unhappy about that, but it was for the greater good, and they would be back soon.  
So Sheik left, arriving at the Temple of Time just after sunrise on the first day of the new month. Walking quietly inside the temple, Sheik contemplated the odds of getting back to Kakariko without Ganondorf noticing her.  
Apparently they were very low, since as soon as Sheik left the temple and went to check on the town she came face to face with Nabooru.  
"Hey kid." Nabooru greeted. She was covered in bandages and the greeting lacked it's usual energy.  
"What do I have to do?" Sheik asked. Ganondorf was not one to easily forgive or let someone get away without punishment, so it made sense to assume Nabooru was not here just to visit.  
"We have been given the honor of leading a small army to a little trading town that Ganondorf wants us to conquer." Sheik nodded, this was better than expected. Motioning for Nabooru to lead, they made their way to Ganondorf's stables to get some horses.

They met their army at the halfway point between Ganondorf's castle and the town, and made the rest of the trip across Hyrule field in one day since it was a fairly short trip.  
Once there, Sheik was appointed commander of the cavalry, Nabooru decided to lead the infantry and the mob of monsters.  
Yelling orders to the other cavalry units, Sheik rode toward the village, twenty mounted Gerudo following her lead, naginatas waving threateningly.  
Uncertainty washed over Sheik as she rode, questioning the necessity of a full assault. The Gerudo who had been in charge of the army had assured them that diplomacy had already been tried, but this still went against all of Shiek's morals. Also the fact that Gerudo diplomacy often was done at saber point.  
The town's little militia rushed out to meet them, swords and spears bared and waving. Mounted on the walls Sheik could see archers, who would no doubt start shooting any moment.  
She heard the tell-tale thrum of bowstrings and called a warning to her troops. As expected, each of the archers had picked a separate target so dodging was made much easier than if they had shot as a whole at the group. The Gerudo scattered then rode back into a spearhead formation without breaking stride. Their horsemanship was at an expert level.  
Another volley came, but now the Gerudo were ready, and they scattered and returned without being asked. Sheik heard the screams of some unfortunate Gerudo who had been shot, and the frightened braying of their horses, but she ignored them. The horses slammed into the militia men, knocking them to the sides and trampling them under hoof. Sheik swung her naginata at one man who had avoided the horses and took of his head. Sheik felt sick, but didn't have time to stop for fear of death. So she kept riding, killing anyone who stood in her way. Eventually she stopped looking at those she killed, thinking of them as objects made it easier to kill them, it made it seem less like she was a murderer.  
The ranks of the militia men broke and scattered, trying desperately to get away from the bloodthirsty Gerudo.  
"Advance!" With a battle cry, Nabooru and her force of monsters began to advance. The archers started to fire flaming arrows now, and the horses reared and shied away from the flames. Sheik calmed her mount quickly and steered it through the town's gates with her knees, she could hear her unit rally and following behind her.  
Ganondorf's army marched into the town, a terrifying mix of mounted Gerudo and monsters born of dark magic, tamed only by Nabooru's immense willpower.  
More arrows rained down, taking out nearly one third of the cavalry. If this kept up, Sheik would loose a lot of her people.  
In a moment of loyalty to her army, which she would later regret, Sheik ordered her second in command to lead the cavalry and leapt off of her horse as they galloped past the ladder leading to the top of the wall. Sheik climbed quickly, dropping her naginata as she did so that she had use of both hands.  
The archers didn't even stand a chance. The few who survived would later tell stories of a shadow that rose up behind them and struck them down before they even got a chance to scream.  
Cursing her very existence, Sheik launched herself off of the wall, bloody knives glinting in the afternoon sun. She really was a murderer now, to save the Gerudo who rode with her she had killed twenty innocent people, probably farmers who were just trying to defend their homes and families.  
The exact same thing Sheik was trying to do by serving Ganondorf.  
Hitting the ground and rolling to break her fall, Sheik sprinted to the battle up ahead. The militia had reformed in the center of the town to defend their flag. Cutting down a monster who mistook her as an enemy, Sheik ran to Nabooru's side, dodging under the horizontal slash that came towards her neck as soon as she noticed Sheik's presence.  
"Sheik." Sheik identified herself before Nabooru decided to attack again. Nabooru spun back around and killed a farmer who was about to stab her.  
The battle was short, ending in only fort-five minutes. Sheik had lost count of the people she had killed. A few of Ganondorf's monsters had fallen to her blades as well, whether she had done it on purpose or not, Sheik was unsure. Nearly the entire battle had just been a bloody blur.  
The end result was fifteen dead from Ganondorf's army, and fifty from the town militia. Ten townspeople dead, burned in the fires that had been lit by the flaming arrows or caught in the fighting.  
"Hey kid, you alright?" Nabooru came to stand next to Sheik, looking over the destruction. Sheik felt something die inside of her, but she nodded. Nabooru wasn't buying it, but she didn't press. One of the other Gerudo came and said something to Nabooru in the Gerudo's language. Their language was similar to that of the Sheikah, since they had originally both lived in the desert, and Sheik understood the words "report" and "Ganondorf."  
"We have to report to Ganondorf." Nabooru said, disgust clear in her voice. Sheik lifted a deku nut and slammed it into the ground, Nabooru following with her magic crystals.

-0-0-0-

Ganondorf's guttural laugh echoed around the chamber, bouncing off the walls and overlapping in a very frightening manner. He seemed genuinely amused.  
Sheik and Nabooru stood unflinching before him.  
"So you did as I asked?" Nabooru nodded affirmation. "Hmm... That's acceptable, although your complaints are that of a pathetic child, not befitting of one of my servants." he said to Sheik, who had complained about the massacre and his unnecessary use of force.  
"Go back to your princess." Sheik took the dismissal and left the throne room. Ganondorf appeared to trust her enough to let her walk inside the castle without an escort now, so she had some time alone to think. Or dwell on the horrendous crimes she had just committed, which is what she did.  
When she finally exited the castle, she teleported to the Lost Woods with the Minuet of Forest.  
The forest did nothing to calm her this time, and she promptly threw up. Staggering over to the tree stump where Saria had been sitting when they first came, Sheik sat down and dropped her head into her hands. Narrow shoulders shook with silent cries, tears streamed down her face, drawing lines through the red blood spattered across it.  
"Oh Goddesses..." her voice caught, and she closed her eyes, trying desperately to stop the images of the massacre, for that's what it had been, from flashing through her brain.  
Trained to kill since age five, Sheik should have been prepared for this. But how could one be prepared to kill innocent people?  
Choosing to focus instead on the tears that blurred her vision, Sheik slowly forced herself to breath deeply. Regaining clarity of the mind, Sheik wiped tears out of her eyes and checked herself over for injuries.  
There were no serious injuries, the blood covering her was someone, or something, else's. Tears covered the outer cloth layer of her amour, but none had gone through the chain mail. Either way, she would be covered in bruises tomorrow for sure.  
Standing, Sheik made her way through the maze until she found one of the clear pools of water that were scattered throughout the forest.  
She knelt next to the hole and began the task of washing off the blood and dirt, staining the water red like the setting sun.

-0-0-0-

Sheik wasn't sure when, but somewhere along the line she had separated into two people.  
One was Zelda's friend, a good person, and a apprentice Sheikah.  
The other was a lying, murdering, heartless, minion of Ganondorf.  
It was now five months since Ganondorf had ordered the capture of that small town, which was now a supply town for Ganondorf's army.  
Zelda was beginning her counter attack. One of the Sheikah scouts had brought back news of Ganondorf's intent to capture Lon Lon Ranch, and Zelda was not happy.  
In one week, a fraction of Zelda's army would arrive at the ranch, three days before Ganondorf's. Zelda was going to try a pincer maneuver, in which two of her cavalry unit would ride around one side, two more from the other, and attack from there, pushing Ganondorf's army into Zelda's main attack force. The land around Lon Lon Ranch was relatively flat, and you could see all the way to the castle from the ranch, so there was no terrain advantage.  
Archers would be mounted along the walls surrounding the ranch, and there would be mounted archers shooting at both the front and back of Ganondorf's army.  
With their smaller forces, it was a risky idea, but Zelda was hoping to confuse the unintelligent creatures that made up Ganondorf's army, have them split their attention, then destroy them.  
Sheik, Amur, Anise, a girl called Raven, and a boy named Kahalil also had a special job to do. They were supposed to kill the commanders. Using shadow magic, they were to sneak behind Ganondorf's army and take out the commanders on the small knoll they were using as a command post, then go into the army unnoticed by the monsters who were fighting and kill the commanders of each unit.  
It was a dangerous task, and Zelda had been very much opposed, but if the commanders were eliminated the battle would be heavily weighted.  
Sheik thanked the Goddesses that Ganondorf hadn't asked her to fight for him. He probably knew she would be fighting for Zelda, but she hoped he didn't anticipate a backstab attack like the one they were going to commit.

The next week was spent crossing Hyrule Field to Lon Lon Ranch. Once there, the army prepared it's forces, setting spiked fences inside the gateway, and setting torches on top of the walls so archers could fire flaming arrows.  
The inhabitance of the Ranch hid in the large house with a small group of six Sheikah to guard them.  
Preparations were complete, now all that was left to do was wait.

**A/N**

Sorry if this isn't as good as it could have been. I am having trouble connecting events, but I think it will pick up again after this chapter. Please tell me if there are spelling errors or anything.  
Thank you all who reveiwed, favorited, and followed.


	12. Forever Frozen

War is an awful thing.  
Staining the world in blood and anguish, filling peoples hearts with sorrow and fear, one  
of the most destructive and horrible things to exist on this earth.

Sheik and Zelda sat silently on the roof of the farmhouse looking out at the destruction. The once green field was stained red with blood, dead lay in piles all over the place.  
Zelda's army had won this battle, but the price had been too high. Nearly one third of her army was dead, another hundred seriously wounded.  
Sheik's party of Sheikah had done their job, but Kahalil had been killed, and Anise badly wounded.  
Closing her eyes, Sheik remembered the attack.  
They had killed nearly all of the commanders, two of which had been Gerudo, and were about to go after the last. The last one was commander of the fifth infantry, and had a guard of ten people. Word of the other commanders' death had reached him and he was trying to save himself. This one was a Hylian, the son of one of the nobles who had betrayed Zelda, a descendant of one of the nobles who had betrayed the Royal Family in the Civil War, coincidentally. Sheik remembered his name was Andrew.  
Amur and Anise put poisoned throwing knives and needles through half of the guard before they were noticed, then Kahalil joined the fray while Sheik and Raven had cloaked themselves in shadows and gotten next to Andrew's horse. Raven's blade found his throat and he toppled from his horse, dead before he could utter a sound.  
Rearing up and thrashing it's hooves, the horse took out the remaining two guards and anyone within range of it's hooves. The Sheikah quickly moved out of range, but one of it's massive hooves smashed into Kahalil's head as he pushed the limping Anise out of the way. He died because of that, and Sheik thought it was a awful way to die.  
The remaining four had escaped with his body, but he was already dead when they reached the medics.  
"Sheik..." Zelda's sorrow filled voice brought Sheik back to the present, which was only slightly better that the past.  
"Yes Princess?"  
"How do I tell their families back home that their sons and husbands are dead?" Always worrying about her people first, that was Zelda. Even though she herself had been injured by a stray arrow, and she had lost use of her right leg for about a month, Zelda was still trying to be a good leader.  
A feeling of inferiority washed over Sheik. Zelda was such a good person, she wished she could be like that. But a servant of Ganondorf cannot be a good person as well.  
"There is no way to adequately capture the meaning of their deaths, but I think a speech and a royal thank-you will do." she responded, tone flat. Sheik was surprised at her own lack of feeling.  
Zelda smiled sadly and nodded, wiping unshed tears from her eyes. It was unbefitting of a ruler to cry in front of her people, even if said people were her best friend.  
Sheik helped her down and they entered the barn, which was being used temporarily as a meeting place. It was time to plan their return to Kakariko, what to do with the injured, and set up a proper burial for those who had fought and died.

-0-0-0-

Returning to a schedule had been difficult, but Sheik was back to training again, Zelda was stuck in the hospital while her leg healed, Amur was on another mission with his mentor, and Anise was stuck in the hospital as well.  
Sheik mastered the magics quickly, learning to fly, walk on water, and use light magic within five months. Her light magic was weak, since the Sheikah race were creatures of shadow, but she could do it and that's what counted.

Recently, Zelda had sent Sheik to bring information to the Zora and check if they needed any sort of assistance, that's where she was headed now.  
Before Ganondorf had attacked, Impa had taken Sheik to the Zora's Domain on multiple occasions to learn how to swim, dive, and use water magic. She had come to like the Zora people and their element and was eager to see them again.  
Climbing the familiar rocks that led to the water fall, Sheik noticed a cold wind blowing from the Zora's Domanin, that was alarming since the Zora's home always stayed a comfortably warm temperature.  
Quickening her pace, Sheik sprinted the remaining distance and quickly played Zelda's Lullaby on her harp. The water parted and she jumped the gap and ran inside.

The Zora Domain's usual calm was shattered, the air hummed with dark power, and Zora were screaming and running about frantically.  
Sheik could smell blood in the air, and the Zora army stood with spears pointed up at a floating figure in a thick black cape, other Zora filled the rivers and were diving to the bottom of the main pool trying to escape.  
The person laughed evilly, a laugh Sheik knew only too well. The laugh of Ganondorf.  
Raising his arms, Ganondorf began to gather lots of power. Zora yelled battle cries and swam as fast as they could towards him, leaping out of the water at the last moment to come within a hairsbreadth of Ganondorf only for him to float just a bit higher so that the tips of the Zora's spears sliced passed the soles of his boots.  
With an inhuman roar, Ganondorf slammed his palms into the water below him, the water freexing instantly where he touched. Ganondorf resumed his position in the air and laughed maniacally as the ice spread across the water, trapping the unfortunate Zora within.  
Angrily, Sheik gathered her own magic and tried to force back Ganondorf's ice. It wasn't right to kill off an entire race simply because they might have a Sage among them.  
Hissing, Sheik strained against Ganondorf, she knew he was powerful, but this was off the scale.  
Things began to click in Sheik's head, things like Ganondorf's plan, his possession of the Triforce of Power, things that she thought she should have realized much sooner. Before the thoughts could complete themselves Sheik was lifted off her feet by Ganon's phantom hand.  
"Hello Sheik, what do you think your doing?" Ganondorf asked in a conversational tone. Knowing Ganondorf's violent tendencies, Sheik opted not to respond, instead focusing on keeping Ganondorf's magic back, although she knows it's futile. Hopefully the Zora will have time to escape.  
"Are you still trying to stop me?" Ganondorf laughed. "Foolish child. You are much too weak to even contest with my power!" flicking his wrist, Sheik is sent flying into the wall where massive icicles have begun to form. Sheik can hear a crack as her head collides with the rock and she crumples to the ground.  
Something warm and sticky runs down her head and neck and she has to focus just to stay conscious.  
The screams of young Zora echo around the large cavern as the ice reached them, imprisoning them in the water.  
"Soon it will reach the Princess!" Ganondorf said happily. He must have had too much coffee or something. Sheik thought blearily. He didn't usually talk this much or act this insane.  
Pushing herself painfully up from the wall, Sheik staggered toward the passage that would lead to the throne room.  
"Ahh, no Sheik." Ganondorf said, floating over and grabbing her by her hair. "We can't have you messing up my plans now can we? As your master I am telling you not to help the Zora." Sheik growled, her vision blurring into colored flashes as she reached for her tanto.  
Sorry Zelda. She thought, cutting through her hair and tumbling to the ice below. Hurriedly scrambling to her feet, Sheik ran toward the throne room again, flinging knives and needles back as she ran in a futile attempt to delay Ganondorf.  
The ice had almost reached Lord Jabu Jabu's fountain, it was too late for the king, but she could hear the princess's screams from near the fountain.  
Ganondorf's voice echoed through the halls, telling her that her attempts were useless, that all the Zora would die and she with them if she did not stop.  
Dashing across the ice, Sheik arrived at the pool where Jabu Jabu floated lazily in the water, unaware of the Zora's crisis. The princess was standing in the ankle deep water, stuck because of the ice creeping down the stream.  
"Help!" she screamed. Sheik pumped her remaining magic hastily into her knife and slammed it into the ice at Princess Ruto's feet, causing a wave of intense heat to ripple from the knife, melting the ice around the princess's feet and freeing her.  
Sheik stood and grabbed the princess.  
"You won't escape!" thundered Ganondorf, throwing a ball of fiery magic at the princess. In the second before the fire hit, Sheik swung the princess out of the way, taking the damage and flinging a deku nut to the ground.

-0-0-0-

"Wake up." Sheik opened her eyes to see Ruto standing with her hands on her hips, glaring down at her.  
"You let Ganondorf freeze my home, nearly get me killed, and still call yourself a man?" Ruto huffed and turned away. "Clean yourself up then explain to me what happened. I healed the worst of it for you."  
Sheik rolled to her feet, groaning as her head throbbed and spun painfully. Ruto had healed the burns, so all she had to deal with was her head.  
She reached up and touched the wound, her hand coming away covered in blood. Hastily wrapping the wound in bandages, Sheik looked at the princess and tried to focus on what was being said to her.  
Apparently Ruto didn't want to hear Sheik's side of the story, instead she said a bunch of things about Lord Jabu Jabu, the Water temple, monsters and then taught Sheik a song, which she struggled to learn and remember, and then yelled at her a bit.

By the time Ruto had leapt into the water and disappeared into the Water Temple, all Sheik could gather was that she was going to check on the temple to try and vanquish the monster there that she was sure Ganondorf had anchored his magic too, causing Zora's domain to remain frozen forever. Oh, and she thought Sheik was male. That was odd, didn't she remember when Sheik was young and had come to visit to learn how to swim? Well, whatever. Picking herself off the ground, Sheik used the last vestiges of her magic to warp to Lon Lon Ranch, in hope of food and a place to sleep. She could deal with anything that had to be done after that.

**A/N**

Thank-you all who read, reviewed, Favorited, ect. this!

So, this chapter was dedicated to my new friend, (if you want to be my friend) LagksZ! Thank you so much for being so encouraging and helpful!

Also special thanks to Hasenpfeffer for your continued support and help throughout the story.

Thank you all so much! I hope you liked it.


	13. Ranch Life

How are you supposed to react when someone randomly appears in your house while your cooking dinner?  
Malon reacted by screaming and throwing a fork at Sheik when she appeared in Lon Lon Ranch's dining room unexpectedly.  
Ducking automatically, Sheik narrowly avoided getting a fork through her eye.  
"Sorry," she muttered tiredly. Sheik's head was spinning and she had misjudged her reappearance and accidentally warped into Malon's dining room.  
"Sheik?" Malon gasped in surprise. What happened to you? Your all bloody!" Rushing over to her, Malon began examining Sheik frantically in search of injuries.  
"Come and sit down and I'll see to your wounds." Malon ran off into a side room to retrieve her first aid equipment. As soon as she disappeared around the corner, Talon walked into the room carrying a heavy looking metal bar.  
"WHAT'RE YOU DOIN' IN MY HOUSE?!" he yelled. Sheik winced and covered her sensitive ears.  
"It's me," Sheik said, holding her hands up to show she meant no harm. Talon rubbed sleep out of his eyes and blinked at her.  
"Oh. Sorry, fer scarin' ya." Sheik nodded and sat down in one of the chairs and waited silently for Malon to return, which she did a moment later.  
"Daddy didn't scare you did he?" Malon asked, noticing her father and the metal bar in his hand. Placing her box on the table next to Sheik, she turned to glare at her father. Talon rubbed his head shamefully.  
"No, he didn't," Sheik assured her.  
"Good!" Malon clapped and opened the box. "Daddy, go eat your dinner upstairs, I'll tend to Sheik and then we'll join you." Talon obediently picked up his plate and left. Once he was gone Malon interrogated Sheik about her injuries, which thanks to Ruto were mostly healed, and then began work on the wound on her head.

Half an hour later, Malon had finished. Sheik's head was now wrapped in an excessive amount of bandages, and Malon had said it would take a long time to heal, and she would have to sit still for at least two weeks so that it didn't open up again, but both knew that was highly unlikely to happen.  
Handing Sheik a plate of food, Malon sat down next to her father at their long oak table and said a prayer to the goddesses thanking them for their meal before she and her father began to eat. Sheik refused to remove her scarf, so she ate by slipping bits of food through the gaps in the cloth, and art which she had perfected in the past few weeks.  
Malon raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't comment.  
Sheik stayed the night at Lon Lon Ranch, knowing it would be better to remain here until her injuries needed no more care since Impa and everyone back in Kakariko were very busy and didn't have time to take care of her. Plus, Malon was a really good cook.

-0-0-0-

The morning came much too quickly for Sheik's liking. Warm rays of sun were beginning to appear above the horizon, painting it a brilliant array of pink and orange.  
Rolling over Sheik pulled the blankets over her head in an attempt to block out the light. Today was one of those days where she just didn't want to get out of bed. She wasn't much of a morning person anyway.  
Not five minutes later she heard footsteps on the wood floor outside her room and someone knocked on her door.  
"Sheik? Wake up," Malon called through the door. Sighing, Sheik sat up and rubbed her eyes.  
"I'm up," she called back. Malon seemed satisfied with that and left calling back that breakfast would be in thirty minutes.  
Stretching, Sheik began her morning routine, stretches, brushing teeth, getting dressed, etcetera.  
After making sure her scarf was securely in place, Sheik silently entered the kitchen, startling Malon into dropping her spatula.  
"Don't do that!" she snapped, picking it up and continuing with her job pf cooking eggs. Sheik leaned back against the wall and watched silently, sure that Malon would ask if she wanted help.  
"Go wake up Daddy please," Malon said after a while. Sheik grinned beneath her scarf and went to the rack of herbs that were drying and picked out a jalapeño pepper. Talon was notorious for not waking up, so extreme measures were necessary. Malon laughed as Sheik exited the room and walked up the stairs that led to Talon's room.  
"Talon." Sheik poked him in the ribs. No reaction. Grinning evilly under her scarf, Sheik stuck the chili pepper in his mouth and waited while he reflexively chewed and swallowed. Three seconds later, Talon shot up from bed and screamed.  
Sheik leapt backwards to avoid his flailing arms, retreating to the relative safety of the door way.  
"HOT! HOT! HOT! HELP! I NEED WATER!" Talon ran out of the room, crashing into the walls and doors as he struggled to reach the bathroom.  
Malon stepped out of the stairway and collapsed to the floor laughing.  
"That, that was great..." she dissolved back into laughter, rolling around on her back. Sheik allowed herself a grin and leaned back against the wall, watching the girl rolling on the floor in front of her.  
Emerging from the bathroom with his face and shirt soaking wet, Talon stomped over and glared at the two other occupants of the house as best as he could with tears at the edge of his eyes.  
Malon looked up briefly and promptly started laughing again.  
Talon's glare focused on Malon.  
"Which one of you did it?" Sheik raised her hand and Talon turned his gaze to her. Taking an intimidating step forward, Talon began to growl.  
Sheik hadn't known that Talon could appear so frightening, but she wasn't about to let him intimidate her, so she turned away and walked calmly down the stairs, not acknowledging him in any way.  
"You brat!" Talon chased after her, charging like a bull. Sheik stepped neatly out of the way, sending Talon tumbling down the remaining stairs.  
Malon laughed harder as her farther got up and turned back to face Sheik.  
"Let's take this outside." He growled, using the common code for "lets go outside and beat each other into the ground."  
"Is that a challenge?" Sheik grinned, although nobody could tell. Talon nodded his large head and stomped out the door into the horses' paddock.  
Malon, who had picked herself up, followed them out, fixing her hair and straightening her dress as she went.  
The two fighters stood across from each other, Talon glaring, Sheik nonchalantly balancing on one foot. The horses looked curiously on.  
Pulling herself up onto the fence Malon set the rules.  
"Okay! So you lose if you either tap out, go out of the paddock, or can no longer move." Malon raised her arm and loudly announced, "Ready? Go!" she brought her arm down and giggled as talon bull-charged Sheik, who did a handstand on his shoulder, tapping his head as she flipped over to land back on her feet. Before Talon could turn around Sheik spun and slammed a foot into his back, causing him to stumble. But Talon was large and had a very low center of gravity, so he didn't fall as Sheik had intended.  
She ducked and rolled to the side as Talon swung a right hook punch at her head. Coming up behind him, Sheik darted forward and caught the big man in a choke hold.  
"Give up?" she hissed into his ear.  
"...NO!" With a roar, Talon flung Sheik off and into the air. She flipped neatly and came down feet first towards Talon. Stepping back, Talon avoided the attack and tried to grab Sheik, finally realizing that his superior strength and size would give him a huge advantage if the caught her.  
Sheik darted in again, starting a series of quick jabs to Talons ribs, then before Talon could retaliate, jumped backwards out of range and did a handstand to taunt Talon. This was the most fun she had had in... Well, a really long time. She felt guilty for a second, knowing that everyone else was working hard to save the country, but she was entitled to have some fun, right? She was only ten after all, a child in most societies.

The two continued to fight, Sheik landing a lot of blows on Talon, and Talon landing only two, but with his amount of strength, two was still pretty painful.  
Sheik was flung toward the fence, Talon was now trying to knock her out of the ring. She flipped and kicked off the fence, already having made the mistake of not landing correctly and as a result had reopened her head wound. Thankfully Malon hadn't noticed yet. It wasn't that bad and Sheik didn't want to stop yet.  
Twisting, Sheik slammed her foot into Talon's solar plexus, causing him to stumble and clutch his stomach. Following up on her advantage, Sheik dashed behind him and did a spinning kick, hitting Talon between his shoulders and knocking him to the ground. Sheik grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back painfully.  
"Give?" Sheik panted. There was a slow nod, then Talon said; "Yeah. You win." Stepping off, Sheik brushed herself off, doing her best to hide the grin that insisted on coming onto her countenance. Both contestants were breathing hard and covered in sweat.  
"Awesome job!" Malon congratulated, hoping off her fence and walking over. Talon stood up with a groan and massaged his shoulder.  
"You didn't have to be so rough," he complained. Sheik shrugged.  
"You asked for it," Malon pointed out. Sheik stretched and turned to Malon.  
"I'm hungry." Malon's face paled suddenly.  
"Oh, shoot! I forgot!" dashing back into the house, Malon ran to the stove and groaned. Her toast had been burned and the eggs were cold.  
"Sorry..." she said to Sheik, who had followed her inside. Sheik shrugged and took the plate of eggs. She wasn't a picky eater, and anyway, cold eggs were better than the cold bread with jam she got back home. Well, the jam was pretty good, but that's besides the point.

~0~0~0~

Three days later, Malon deemed Sheik fit to leave. She had wound Sheik's head in an unnecessarily large amount of bandages after her fight against Talon, so much so that it looked like she was wearing a turban. Which was fine, it reminded her of the way the Shiekah in the desert dressed. They all wore turbans to keep the sand and sun from hurting them. Impa had once said that her father had originally come from the desert and moved to Kakariko to be with her mother.

The sun was just setting when Sheik had finished helping Malon and Talon round up the animals and feed and water them all.  
Thanking them for their hospitality, Sheik backed up a few paces and Malon and Talon, knowing what was coming next, covered their eyes. When they looked back, Sheik was gone.

-0-0-0-

**A/N**

Yay! I wrote a useless filler chapter! With absolutely no storyline!  
Sorry if it wasn't any fun to read, but I feel like it's got to be here, otherwise it would be one major event to the next, and poor Sheik needs a little break, I think.  
Thank you all who read!

Please review!

Oh, and does anyone have suggestions for a better story title?


	14. Flames of Punishment

When Sheik arrived in the town square of Kakariko Village, the first thing she noticed was the smell of smoke. This was normal, considering they lived next to an active volcano, but it was different right now. It smelled like wood smoke, along with other things, a bit like a forest fire. Curious, Sheik glanced up toward the top of the volcano, expecting to see flames shooting out of the peak, but the volcano was silent and dark. Behind the volcano she could see a orange glow, at first she thought it was the sun, but slowly it dawned on her that the sun was setting behind her, and that the Sheikah village was over there.  
A pillar of flames suddenly rose up from the approximate location on the Sheikah Village, lighting the darkening sky as if it were mid-day.  
Frantically, Sheik pulled out another deku nut and warped to the Sheikah village.  
Her abrupt appearance in the middle of their village prompted somebody next to her jumped and throw a needle at her, which she dodged, before she was recognized. Seriously, if people that were supposed to be her allies kept throwing sharp object at her she would die before Ganondorf could kill her for interrupting his freezing of the Zora's Domain.  
There was another large pillar of fire and Sheik turned to face it's source.  
Speak of the devil, there was Ganondorf now. Sheikah warriors were attacking him from all angles, those not able to fight were running for the secret passage down to Kakariko, and others, mages and healers mostly, were pulling water from the river on the edge of the village and attempting to douse the fire.  
Narrowing her eyes and growling, Sheik ran towards Ganondorf, throwing knives in one hand, and her tanto in the other.  
"Shiek!" Ganondorf saw her coming and grinned. "Nice of you to join us." He threw a fire ball at a house and it burst into flames.  
The other Shiekah backed up a bit and tried to regroup, so luckily nobody heard the familiarity with which he spoke to Sheik.  
Sheik jumped and threw the knives, each aimed for a different kill spot.  
All three knives bounced uselessly off of his magical shield.  
"It will take more than that to kill me." Ganondorf stated, "Try harder." Sheik attacked again, and Ganondorf blocked it with no effort at all. He flung Sheik aside and burned another building. Angry and desperate, Sheik charged at him, discarding her usual carefully planned out attacks in favor of a beat down strategy.  
"It's unlike you to be so rushed," Ganondorf chided. "Maybe you need to take a deep breath and calm down." Sheik ignored him and continued her onslaught, but her attacks were nullified by Ganondorf's shield. Laughing, Ganondorf reached out and grabbed Sheik out of the air, holding her with an invisible hand.  
"Look around you. This is what happens when you disobey me." There was a note of amusement in his voice, a cruel sound that Sheik had come to know quite well. He lost interest in her and slammed her into the ground, then floated into the air, surveying his work. Everything was burning, each house and stable, even the once green plants were burning. The air was thick with smoke, making it hard to breath and see. All in all, Ganondorf was pleased with his work. Except for the little Sheikah scuttling around like irritating bugs. He would have to squish them later, but for now, he would let those who remained alive live.  
Picking herself up, Sheik looked around as well. Her home was on fire, soon the surrounding trees would catch as well and all of this mountain's greenery would burn to the ground.  
She took a deep breath to steady herself, and was at once thankful for the scarf wrapped around her face that protected her from the worst of the smoke.  
"Sheik!" Impa was suddenly beside her, launching fireballs at Ganondorf. "Get to the tunnel and take those there to Kakariko. Now!" Impa flew into the sky after Ganondorf, using fire magic to try and take him down. Izzati was also in the air, weaving spells to dismantle Ganondorf's shield.  
Not wasting another second, Sheik ran to the tunnel's entrance and rushed inside, pushing through the people to find whoever was in charge.  
She found Amur wading through the group counting people and taking stock of injuries and young children.  
"Amur," Sheik said, moving to stand next to him. He glanced over at her, looking relieved to see her.  
"Thank goodness your here. Can you run back out and check if there's anyone else? We'll be leaving in five minutes, so hurry." Nodding, Sheik made her way back out and into the scalding heat.  
She darted between burning houses and falling objects, searching the entire village for anyone who had gotten stuck or hurt. Amur had done a good job of finding everyone, and she could find nobody who needed help, for which Sheik was grateful.  
She returned to the tunnel just as Amur was herding the group away. She joined the back of the line and watched for any dangers from behind and made sure nobody left the group.  
As they left, a few of the Sheikah who had been putting out the fires ran to join the line. When asked what the situation was they shook their heads and said that fire was impossible to put out, the best they could do was prevent it from spreading.

Amur led the line through the tunnels, stopping once to clear the passage of a pile of crumbling rock.  
"Be careful!" Amur called back, "The tunnel seems to be weaker up here." Sheik frowned. This tunnel was supposed to be fixed every month, there shouldn't be any weaknesses in then supports after barely a month.  
The line emerged onto the side of the mountain, hundreds of feet above ground level. The paths here were thin, so the Sheikah were forced to proceed one at a time, making it difficult to help the injured and young. They had been in the path for only about five minutes when the ground beneath their feet suddenly crumbled into the abyss below. Most of the Sheikah who had been walking across that spot managed to jump across before it fell, but one young child screamed as she lost her grip and began to fall.  
Amur leapt across the six foot gap, grabbing the child and bringing her safely to the other side.  
"Are you okay?" he asked. The kid nodded and clung onto Amur, screaming at the top of his lungs.  
Wincing at the loud noise, Amur passed the crying child to the nearest Sheikah and yelled for Sheik.  
"We have one other apprentice, but he's taking care of the younger children, the Elder the two of us are the only uninjured people over the age of six," Amur whispered. "Eight people on this side of the gap." That was bad. On their own, both Sheik and Amur could leap the gap, but weighed down, even if only a little, Neither would be able to certainly make it across. The Elder, as his name implied, was old, and therefore couldn't jump the gap either. The other apprentice should probably stay on the other side and take care of the people there, and the injured warriors should also stay on that side. Both Sheikah thought for a moment, then had an idea.  
"Magic!" they exclaimed.  
"The Elder is on the other side, right?" Amur nodded confirmation. "Do you remember how to fly?" Sheik asked. He did, but not very well. Flying was a difficult skill to master, but they thought they could do it over this short a distance. Sheik reached inside a hidden pocket in her armor and pulled out a blood red stone. Each Sheikah was given one when they learned how to do six different types of magic.  
"You finished already?" Amur asked. Sheik nodded and closed her eyes, gathering energy into the stone. Once she decided she had enough, she released it and immediately used wind magic to form wings. Then she grabbed a kid and leapt off the edge of the path, only having to use a bit more of her power than usual to get her and the child across. She immediately leapt back and repeated the process.  
By the time she was on her third child, Amur had procured himself a gem and had wings of his own.  
A few minutes later, there was only one child left.  
"I'll get him," Amur offered. Sheik nodded tiredly and he leapt back across the gap and picked up the child. He was glad only children had gotten caught on this side, he didn't think he'd be strong enough to carry an adult over.  
He leapt towards the other side, but, as fate would have it, a small pile of falling rocks fell from above at that exact moment and hit Amur, causing him to lose focus and release the magic. Swearing, Amur flung the child the remainder of the way to the edge where Sheik caught the kid, then reached out for Amur's hand. She felt his fingertips touch hers, but then Amur's hand slipped and he continued to plummet toward the ground.  
"Amur!" Sheik yelled. She reached for her magic, only to find it nearly depleted. Not nearly enough to fly, but maybe enough to teleport. Sheik grabbed a deku nut and was about to leap of the edge when something collided with her back.  
"Get the others to Kakariko! I'll meet you there!" Amur called back. Doubting his amount of magic, Sheik started struggling to escape the iron grip of her captor, but she was pinned to the ground and unable to move.  
"If you jump, you'll both die!" the person snapped. Twisting so that she could see the person, Shiek growled.  
"Amur is going to die because of you, Raven." Raven stared down at her, eyes expressionless.  
"We cannot risk losing you both. You have no more magic, and no more energy," Raven stated in a matter of fact tone. Sheik had to admit she was right, but now it was highly likely Amur was going to die, and it was partially her fault.  
"Get off." Raven relented and got off her back, still watching her encase she tried to jump. Getting to her feet, Sheik looked over the side. Amur was nowhere to be seen.  
"You are in charge now," Raven said. "I will heal those who are injured as best as I can." Then she walked into the crowd of Sheikah, picking her way carefully through the line so no one fell of the edge.  
Sheik hadn't known that Raven was a healer, she hadn't known Raven was among the group, but that wasn't important right now. What was important was to get the others to Kakariko.

It was nearly noon when the small band of Sheikah arrived at Kakariko's gates. They were tiered and hungry, the injured needed proper treatment, and everyone was in need of a long nap. Raven had healed those with the worst injuries as best as she could, fixing broken bones and life threatening injuries, but she had her limits and after she had healed four of the six injured, she fainted. The warrior who she had just healed carried her the rest of the way to the village. Light magic took a lot out of a person of the shadows, Sheik knew about that from first hand experience.  
After making sure everyone had passed the gates, Sheik stumbled in, motioning for the soldiers to close the gates behind her. Glancing up, Sheik saw the village's small fighting force gathered near the gates, tensely awaiting orders or a threat.  
Zelda stood near the back, and when she saw Sheik she flung herself toward her for a hug. Sheik's tiered mind registered only a object flying toward her, and she sidestepped. Zelda nearly tripped when she only felt empty space. She stopped and took a moment to regain her balance before spinning around and glaring at Sheik.  
"Sorry... I didn't realize it was you," Sheik muttered, rubbing her eyes. Zelda noticed her exhaustion and took her arm, leading her toward Impa's house.  
"Come on, you must be tired." Zelda unlocked the door and deposited Sheik on the couch before leaving to get some food and a cup of tea.  
When she returned, the two settled down to wait for Impa.

Many hours later, Impa entered the house silently. Her body ached and she was covered in minor cuts and burns.  
Feet barely making a sound on the wooden floor, she made her way to the back room, smiling slightly when she passed her two sleeping wards on the couch.  
Ganondorf had escaped nearly unharmed. Their attacks had uselessly bounced off of his shield and after awhile he had gotten bored and teleported away, leaving their village to burn to the ground.  
She wasn't sure how many had died or been hurt, but she knew there were a lot. Ganondorf was ruthless and cruel, and very powerful. A very bad combination. Stray attacks had taken out a good portion of their number, and nearly all of those fighting had been taken out as well. Those who could fly had flown up to attack Ganondorf, and all had been knocked from the sky. They were now scattered across the mountain, most probably wouldn't survive. Impa had been lucky to fall near the gate, and only had a twisted ankle to pay for it.  
After washing and dressing her wounds, Impa went to her own room, too tired to eat, and instantly fell asleep. Tomorrow she would deal with the repercussions of Ganondorf's attack, but right now she needed to sleep. So that's exactly what she did.

-0-0-0-

**A/N**

Thank you all for reading!  
Please review and tell me what you think. I was re-reading this story and realized that it isn't very good, and so this will serve as a rough outline for a final version which I will write after I finish this.

I was talking to some people and wondered if any of the following names were any good for a new title;

Legacy

Hero(s)

Hero's Legacy

In Time

There were a few others which I don't remember. But please tell me if any of these are acceptable.

Also thank you very much to LagksZ for your title ideas, but I decided not to use them because they implied that the Hero would not be in this story much, or were too much like mine. But thank you so much!

Thank you to all others who reveiwed, followed, etc.

More title ideas would be greatly appreciated!


	15. New Future

Sheik awoke the next day before dawn, her sleep had been plagued by dreams of the battle that had taken place the day before, and as a result her mind was still weary and unfocused.  
Quietly, Sheik removed the blanket that had been laid over her and Zelda and stretched. The house was cold and silent, and Sheik shivered. She went to the kitchen and started a fire in the stove, hoping to warm up the house and get some tea.  
Once she had a cup of hot tea in her hands, she sat at the small wooden table and closed her eyes. Images of fire and blood flashed behind her eyelids, the sound Ganondorf''s evil laugh and of people screaming echoed in her ears. She snapped her eyes open.  
The house was still quiet, the only fire was the one she had lit in the stove. No Ganondorf, no screams, no scorching flames.  
She took a deep breath to calm herself, breathing in the smell of her herbal tea.  
She was safe now. Ganondorf wasn't here anymore.  
Thoughts about the other Sheikah made their way into her mind from where she had tried to hide them, and a wave of guilt washed over her. She was safe, but Amur wasn't, at least eighty people were in the hospital, and an even greater amount had died. She worried about her friend, her home, and the safety and future of her people. If there were enough Sheikah left to keep calling themselves a separate people. Ganondorf's attacks had taken many Sheikah lives, and there were already very few as it was, most had died long ago in the Civil War, when an alliance of nobles had tried to overthrow the Royal Family and eradicate the Sheikah, calling them demons and freaks of nature. The king at the time had blamed the betrayal and murder of his wife on the Sheikah and had his personal guard executed. He was then disowned by his son and other relatives and he proceeded to join the very nobles who had betrayed him.  
A great number of Shiekah had died then, protecting the prince and his extended family, and more had died in the raids on the Sheikah villages. There had been one raid to Kakariko Village when it was still being built, Sheik remembered Impa telling her, when the Sheikah had still inhabited it. The rebel army had come and ordered all the Sheikah to surrender or they would burn the village to the ground. Impa, founder of the village, had decided it would save more lives if they surrendered.  
She had sent the Sheikah who could not fight into the mountains to their old village, and the warriors accompanied her out into the field where the rebel army was waiting.  
The army attacked the group of Sheikah immediately, and killed more than half. But they too lost a lot of soldiers. The Sheikah warriors are strong, and smart, they would not go down easily, but knew that they would ultimately lose. Impa ordered a tactical retreat, and as she expected, the soldiers followed them back, pressing their advantage. The Sheikah lured them into Kakariko Grave Yard, then into the Shadow Temple. Because of their single minded determination to kill all of the Sheikah, they followed and descended into the depths of the temple. There they died, each and every one. Some at the hands of the Sheikah, and many to the tricks and traps of the Shadow Temple, the place where Hyrule's most clandestine secrets were kept. Their bodies were consumed by the darkness and the events that took place there were never spoken of again.  
Except to other Sheikah, who were the keepers of such knowledge.  
After those events the temple was sealed, and the people of Kakariko never went near it. Since then it has been filled with the animosity of those souls, and evil has begun to breed inside, befouling the once sacred temple.  
The war ended then, with very few of the rebel army left standing, and their best generals dead, their army dissolved. Peace ruled again, but not without a heavy price.  
There were now only three Sheikah tribes left, and only 100,000 Sheikah total.

Someone sat down across from her and Sheik brought her attention back to the present.  
"How are you doing?" asked Impa. The question addressed both her mental and physical state of health, and Sheik knew that the question was one meant to be answered truthfully, not with the usual "I am fine," used to answer when other people asked.  
Sheik shrugged. She didn't really know. There was a sense of dread in her heart, but she wasn't sure what the end result of last night's attack was, so there was still a bit of hope. She felt sad, definitely, and was angry at Ganondorf, but she wasn't entirely sure what to feel yet. Maybe most of the people were still alive.  
Unfortunately, that was a very slim maybe.  
Impa nodded. She could relate to the younger Sheikah's feelings.  
"We should eat, then check on the village. I will send a search party to look for those who are unaccounted for." Sheik nodded and got up to make breakfast.

-0-0-0-

"Oh my Goddesses..." Anise's voice trailed of, leaving the clearing in silence one more. Each of the five Sheikah stared in horror at what had been their village.  
Nothing was left standing. Not a single object untouched by the flames.  
Impa was the first to pull herself together.  
"We should look for any survivors," she said softly. They all knew they wouldn't find anyone, but they all obeyed Impa anyway, as it was their only form of guidance.  
When they were done, they had found three dead, but nothing else. The bodies were badly burned and unrecognizable, they would join the other nameless Sheikah who had died in the Civil war in their grave, forever watching over Hyrule, even in death. Or so those who had created the grave requested.  
Impa wrapped the bodies in cloth and lay them away from the wreckage to be taken to Kakariko by the group assigned to the task.  
Silently, they turned and exited the clearing, escaping back into the mountains.

Sheik followed blindly. She was numb. Everything felt unreal, the cold air that whipped at her hair and clothes, the smell of her burnt surroundings, the feeling of anguish that was making her want to cry. She felt oddly detached, like she was watching herself and her companions from behind a glass wall, she could feel nothing, think nothing, and hear nothing. Everything was quiet.  
As they walked away, Sheik could see Anis trying to hide her tears, as was the Sheikah way, Impa leading the small group, back straight and muscles unusually tense, the two other Sheikah warriors, who Sheik could not put a name to right now, heads bowed and hearts heavy, and she could see herself, walking behind Impa, head down and staring at the ground, every movement jerky and ungraceful.

They spent the rest of the day searching for those who had been knocked out of the sky, and succeeded in finding one, Sharik, a Sheikah who had become a full fledged warrior only about a year ago, he was sixteen. One of the two warriors Sheik didn't recognize was a healer, and did his best to keep him alive, but he said Sharik's chance of survival was low.

Returning to Kakariko Village around dusk, the search parties gathered near the well and discussed what to do. Sheik sat in a corner and listened, still feeling detached.  
Of 500 Sheikah, only 212 remained alive. Around half of that were injured, and 23 were fatally wounded, another 3 were missing.  
Sheik went back to Impa's house after that, not wanting to hear anymore bad news. Visiting the village had really driven all of the horror home, forcing the survivors to face a horrible truth.  
Sheik picked up her harp and climbed onto the roof. She plucked the strings carelessly and stared across the village with unseeing eyes.  
"Sheik?" Zelda pulled herself onto the roof and walked over to the unresponsive Sheikah and sat down.  
"Sheik...Please, talk to me." Sheik stopped playing and whispered;  
"Two-hundred and eight-five dead. Twenty-three fatally wounded..." She trailed off. It was a small number compared to the Hylian's usual death count, but to the Sheikah, it was too many.  
"Oh Sheik...I'm so sorry..." Zelda began to cry. Pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tight, hiding her head. They weren't her people, but for so many to die... You had to be heartless not to feel any sorrow at all.  
Zelda wiped her eyes and lifted her head to look at Sheik, who was simply staring again, unmoving and unspeaking. Zelda thought Sheik was so strong. Over half of her people were dead, her home had been burned to the ground, and she wasn't crying, wasn't complaining, and wasn't asking for anyone's comfort. Zelda stopped crying, her thoughts temporarily distracted. No, she realized, Sheik was strong, but she was only going to hurt herself if she faced such pain alone.  
Zelda hiccupped and wiped at her tears again, trying to clear her vision.  
"Doesn't it hurt?" Zelda asked. "Don't you want anyone to comfort you?" Sheik turned to look at her, her red eyes were blank.  
"...No. I just want to be alone." She turned away again. Zelda got up, she was a bit afraid of Sheik right now. At times like these, you needed someone to comfort you, and Sheik was directly turning it away, and she spoke with such a dull voice, with eyes as blank as those of the dead. Zelda climbed down again and went to search for Impa. If anyone knew how to help her friend it would be her.  
Meanwhile, Sheik continued her vigil, feeling nothing, seeing nothing, and thinking of nothing.

-0-0-0-

Three days after the attack, Sheik finally responded to Zelda.  
"Sheik, the remaining Sheikah want to go into the desert and join up with the tribe that lives there," Zelda stated. Sheik lifted her head.  
"Their betraying their oath?"  
"No, I released them from it. Your people have to take some time to help themselves, they can't always be helping us."  
"I see. When?"  
"Two weeks from now." Zelda searched her friend's face for a reaction, but got none.  
"Will you go too? It will be safer out there with the others. Even Ganondorf would not stray into the motherland of the Sheikah." Zelda thought for a moment. Impa had raised this idea as well. The Sheikah, like the Gerudo, had originally come from the desert. They had then spread into Hyrule, and split into three tribes. One tribe remained in the desert, and was the largest, the second lived in the Lost Woods, and had cut contact with Hyrule when word of Ganondorf's arrival had reached them. The third was the tribe that had sworn fealty to Hyrule and become the guardians of the royal family. They were the smallest group, and the only tribe known to the majority of Hyrule.  
"No, I cannot hide when my people need me," Zelda decided.  
Sheik nodded. She had expected as much.  
"Then I will stay as well." Zelda shook her head vigorously.  
"No, you won't. You need to get away from all of this for awhile." Zelda was afraid Sheik would insist on staying, but she wasn't going to let Sheik win this time. She wasn't blind, she could tell Sheik was upset. Leaving and visiting the desert seemed like the best option right now.  
"It will only be temporary, and I will have Impa." she tried to appeal to the Sheikah. "You may come back as soon as your tribe is settled in the desert."  
"You're trying to get rid of me." Sheik stated. She stood up, "Very well. I will go." she left the room to begin preparations for leaving.

Sheik Gathered her weapons and counted those that were missing, sharpening the remaining one's edges. Somewhere during the time since she had gone to the Zora's Domain and come back here she had lost her long knives, so that had put an end to her training with those weapons, she had replaced them with a dagger, perfectly balanced for either throwing or close combat. Laying her weapons in a neat pile, she moved over to her armor. Now it was scratched and ripped, the dark blue fabric stained with her blood. She would need new armor before she left.  
"So you decided to go?" asked Impa. Sheik turned to find her standing with her arms crossed in the doorway.  
"Yes. And you aren't. Who will lead the Sheikah in your place?" Impa walked forward and handed her a small bundle.  
"Take this, it is new armor for your journey." Impa paused, then said, "Sheik, I cannot go, as it is my duty to protect the Princess and follow her, whatever she decides. As my apprentice, you will guide them in my place." Sheik took the armor and laid it on her bed.  
"...I can't," she said. Impa raised an eyebrow and waited for her to elaborate. "I feel nothing inside. I cannot lead when I feel nothing, for my people or otherwise." Impa frowned. So what Zelda had said was true, Sheik had gone into a state of shock and hadn't come out. Impa felt a wave of anger toward Ganondorf wash over her, but forced herself to stay calm. She had already accounted for this.  
"I understand. I will find someone else." Impa pulled the younger Sheikah into a quick hug. "I won't be seeing you for awhile, so take care." Impa knew "awhile" could be a very long time, possibly a year or more. Sending the person who she had practically raised away into a war covered land was heartbreaking.  
Is that how a mother felt? she wondered. Not to mention Sheik was only eleven years old and had not yet completed her training. Impa brushed those thoughts aside. Sheik was a capable warrior, despite being young, and could take care of herself. She also played a pivotal role in the fate of Hyrule and would have to learn to handle such hardships. But it worried her that Sheik was still in shock. Most of the other Sheikah had managed to pull themselves together by now, or spent their time crying about it, but Sheik did neither. Sometimes you needed to vent, whether by crying or other means. She made a mental note to find someone to watch Sheik while on their journey, then returned her attention to Sheik.  
"Thank you," Sheik said, turning back to her work.

-0-0-0-

On the dawn of the scheduled day, 180 Sheikah were gathered at Kakariko Village's front gates. All those who were capable of travel were there, those who could not probably wouldn't survive anyway, and were left in the Hylians care with the promise that those who survived could make the journey later.  
Impa stood in front of the group with everyone looking up at her expectantly.  
"Today our people once again embark on a great pilgrimage. With this we will depart from Hyrule, leaving nothing behind but vague memories of the shadows that once served Hyrule's Royal Family. In time we will be forgotten, our existence only remembered in fairy tales and legend.  
We were once a great people, but now we are few. Ride to the desert and join the Sheikah tribe there. Though we will be forgotten, we will not cease to exist. I will not be accompanying you this time," At those gathered began yelling unintelligible questions and complaints.  
Impa held up a hand for silence.  
"But in my place Haytham and Izzati will guide you until you reach the desert or decide on a alternative. Now go! Time is short and danger is near." Impa's words were true, and hung in the cold morning air as each Sheikah prepared themselves for the journey ahead of them, unsure now that their trusted and wise leader was not with them.  
Impa stepped off of the box the had been standing on and walked into the crowd of mounted people, making her way to Sheik's side with Zelda right behind her.  
"Give the elder my best regards," Impa said. Sheik nodded.  
"Come back safe." Zelda hugged her awkwardly from her place on the ground. Sheik fidgeted uncomfortably at her touch, then uncertainly hugged her back. Zelda stepped away and smiled.  
"Here. This is the Goddess's Harp. It's for you, since your's is getting a bit worn out." Sheik carefully took the golden harp and stared at it with awe. It really was a beautifully crafted instrument, much nicer than her old one, which Impa had given her years ago.  
"Thank you." Zelda grinned.  
"Take good care of it!" Sheik nodded and handed her old one to Impa for her to keep until she returned.  
Then, raising a hand in farewell, she touched her heels to her horse's flank and cantered away.  
"You better come back in one piece! You hear me? If you don't, I will personally hunt you down and force you to attend a ball!" Zelda yelled after her. Sheik raised a hand to acknowledge that she'd heard, but the threat meant nothing to her. Once she might have cared, but now she couldn't even bring herself to dislike the idea.  
Slowly, the entire group began to move, cantering into the misty field, hearts heavy and tension thick in the air.  
This was the beginning of a new journey, and a chance for a different future.

**A/N**

Thank you all who read!

I hope this was okay, and I want to make it better, so feedback would be really helpful.

A special thanks goes out to Hasenpfeffer! Who helped me pick the new title for this story.  
Thank you so much!

Also, I made a few mistakes with the timeline and Sheikah history which I will soon fix, or will fix when I finish this story. So, I'm sorry, and please bear with me.


	16. Orders

It had been three days since the Sheikah had set out on their journey. So far, very little had happened.

Raven had been asked by Impa to watch over Sheik until she deemed her emotionally stable again, and as a result had been spending a lot of time in her company.  
Currently, the group was camped about half way to the fortress, in the shelter of some rocks along the edge of the Lost Woods. Izzati and Haytham had decided it would be more intelligent to travel along the edge of the forest since it was easy to get lost in Hyrule Field, since the scenery barely changed, and the entrance to Gerudo Valley was along the edge of the field anyway. Plus, with such a large group the chances of being spotted and killed on an open field were very high.  
Most of the Sheikah were gathered around the numerous small fires that dotted the camp, eating, and caring for their young, old, and wounded comrades.  
The designated leaders of the group were conferring in a tent near the middle of the camp, discussing their course of action. The Sheikah had decided to split themselves into groups of twenty, since they had always worked better in small groups, and each group had picked a leader to avoid confusion during a potential battle.  
The ten leaders picked, along with Sheik and Raven, Sheik because she was supposed to stand in for Impa, and Raven because she was supposed to stand in for Sheik when she decided to stop being responsive, were sitting on the ground in a rough circle, attention focused on a large map spread out in the middle.  
"We are about here," Izzati pointed to a place on the map. "So that means approximately another week of travel until we reach the entrance to gorge, then another day until we reach the fortress." She frowned. "We can't expect the Gerudo to be friendly, either, and we only have enough water to last for another two days." Haytham took up her train of thought and continued,  
"Food is not a problem, as there are plenty of creatures to hunt, and we are traveling along the forest, so there are plenty of herbs and plants. I think out main focus right now should be water, and what to do about the Gerudo." The room made a sound of agreement.  
"Then we will have to take a detour and stop at the river," Zafer suggested. Zafer was about twenty, and heavily built. Unlike most Sheikah, he had wide shoulders and looked very muscular, people teased him about being half Hylian because of this, although Sheik had never understood why that was insulting in the least.  
The others nodded in agreement.  
"That will add on half a day," Izzati noted, scribbling on a piece of parchment. After that the discussion turned towards the Gerudo, and Sheik got distracted by thoughts of Nabooru. Ganondorf had punished her for the last time they had failed, and left Sheik unharmed. This time it was Sheik's fault alone, so she hoped Nabooru would be okay. That led to wondering if Ganondorf would call again. The Forest temple, Water temple, and Fire temple had already been captured and filled with traps and monsters, turning them in to places that reminded Sheik a lot of the Shadow temple. That left the Shadow and Spirit temples. The Spirit Temple belonged to the Gerudo, so Ganondorf would probably leave it alone. The Shadow Temple was already so full of traps that Sheik doubted Ganondorf could make it any more dangerous. The only thing the Shadow Temple didn't yet have was it's own Ganon-Made Very Large Evil Monster. Although, since evil had begun permeating the place all those years ago, there very well could be a large, evil monster in there. So, with all those threats out of the way that left...  
"Sheik?" Sheik blinked and refocused her attention. She looked at Izzati to show she was listening.  
"What do you think we should do about the Gerudo?" Sheik thought for a moment.  
"We are Sheikah, not Hylians. We have no quarrel with the Gerudo. If all we intend to do is pass by, I don't see why they should attempt to harm us."  
"True, but we have been affiliated with Hyrule for many years," Zafer countered.  
"We could tell them we have changed sides," Sheik suggested. "After all, we have already been betrayed once." The room stared at Sheik in shock.  
"Sheik-" Raven started.  
"I know," Sheik sighed. "We can't do that. Our people are still loyal to the crown, we simply need time to recover," Sheik recited what Impa had told Zelda when they first decided to return to the desert. She glanced out the window, mentally sighing. It had been stupid to suggest something like that. Sheik was already a traitor, and the reason why they were all on this trip, suggesting that they even imply that they betrayed the princess and potentially ally them selves with the Gerudo was unacceptable. Now they might suspect her, as well. Sheik mentally banged her head into a wall. That was a stupid mistake. These people thought too much about everything, and even the most obsucure and unlikely of situations would not go unconsidered.  
"I'm going outside." Sheik stood and left, followed by Raven, who apologized to the other Sheikah for Sheik's careless words, then hurried after her companion.

"That was ill considered," Raven stated. Sheik nodded her head.  
"...Did you really mean it?"  
"No," Sheik sighed. "It was a mistake." She turned on her heel and walked away. Raven would probably try to follow her, but Sheik wanted to be alone right now, and as soon as she reached the edge of the woods she took off running.  
"Sheik, wait! Those woods are cursed!" Raven called, halting abruptly at the forest's edge. Cursed. Sheik rolled her eyes. The woods weren't cursed, most people just didn't understand it. The forest was a living thing, constantly changing and growing, like a maze. But there was a trick to solving mazes, and for this one you simply had to follow the music.

~0~0~0~

An hour passed and Sheik finally deemed herself stable enough to return to camp. Taking a deep breath of the cool night air, she listened for a moment to gain her bearings, then started walking in the direction of camp. The moon was close to full again, and fall would be coming soon. Sheik looked up at the stars high above, wondering if they were inhabited by creatures like the Sheikah and Hylians, and if those creatures also believed in the three Goddesses. Perhaps there were no wars on those far away planets, perhaps everyone lived in peace.  
Lost in her thoughts, she wandered through the forest until she could see the lights of the camp through the thinning trees. Refocusing, Sheik mentally prepared herself to face the leaders and Raven, who would probably be irritated. A twig snapped, and Sheik snapped her head up, just in time to dodge an arrow. Spinning in the direction the arrow had been shot from, she flicked her wrist, throwing a knife in her attacker's direction. More twigs snapped and Sheik dashed toward the noise, drawing her tanto as she went.  
She stabbed at her now visible assailant, and her blade was met with another larger, curved one.  
Both fighters leapt back, sizing each other up.  
"Wait," Sheik's attacker said, sheathing it's weapon and raising it's hands in a sign of peace. "You are Sheik, of the Sheikah, right?" Sheik recognized that accent, it was Gerudo. That ment Ganondorf wanted something. But it wasn't Nabooru like it usually was.  
Lowering her weapon, Sheik confirmed what the Gerudo had asked.  
"I am. And you are a Gerudo." The Gerudo nodded and stepped into a patch of moonlight.  
"I am here on Lord Ganondorf's orders. I come bearing a message." The Gerudo paused for a second before continuing. "Lord Ganondorf's next orders are this; meet Nabooru at the Gerudo Fortress, then locate the Hero of Time." Sheik breathed in quickly. The Hero. The responsibility of checking on him had been given to Anise, who had stayed behind, until Sheik returned. She was miles away from him, but Ganondorf didn't know that, and didn't care. He would order her to search everywhere, regardless of her own tasks. But still, she would have to find him, or Zelda would probably be punished. But Ganondorf couldn't find out about the Hero's current state. It would greatly endanger his life and the fate of Hyrule. On top of that, the Hero was the only person Sheik trusted completely, he was her last, untainted pillar of light. She could tell him anything, and not worry about the repercussions. She couldn't afford to lose a person like that right now. However, if she didn't agree, Ganondorf would hurt too any people.  
"Alright." Sheik responded, doing her best to cover her reluctance. The Gerudo nodded, apparently not noticing.  
"Lady Nabooru waits for you at the fortress," the Gerudo turned and disappeared in a flash of red.  
Sheik waited for a minute to make sure the Gerudo had left, then sat down on a nearby log.  
Ganonondorf had really thought this out. She felt like a rat in a trap, running in circles and unable to escape.  
Before she could just pretend that she was two different people, leading two different lives. But Ganondorf had brought her two worlds violently crashing together, merging the good and evil sides of Sheik in one short night.  
Telling Ganondorf the Hero's location was out of the question, if he found out, Hyrule was lost. The only option Sheik could see was to lie and pretend she couldn't find him and didn't know where he currently slept. But if this Gerudo had been able to find her so easily, then he could no doubt track her, so she wouldn't be able to go anywhere near the Hero, and therefore couldn't complete her duties when she returned to Kakariko. Or talk to anyone about her current predicament.  
Sheik lowered her head into her hands, a rueful smile finding it's way onto her face. This was impossible. She couldn't do this. Lying to Ganondorf was impossible, keeping all of this hidden from Impa, Zelda and Raven was impossible.  
"Ah...I'm slipping..." her voice trailed off as she struggled to regain her self control. If only it could be just a bit easier. She stood up, wiping all emotion off of her face and locking her feelings away in a diamond box so she wouldn't have to deal with them. For now she would go meet Nabooru at the Fortress. That would give her a way to peacefully contact the Gerudo, maybe she could negotiate peaceful passage for the Sheikah. At least something good might come of all of this.

~0~0~0~

When she returned to the camp, Raven was waiting for her. She looked worried, but not angry, which confused Sheik. Raven fell silently into step behind Sheik, neither saying a word.  
The two made their way back to the central tent and rejoined the meeting. The Gerudo issue was still unresolved, and they were currently discussing sending a small scout party to see what their reception would be. Sheik took the opportunity and volunteered herself and Raven to go.  
"Are you sure?" Raven whispered from beside her. Sheik ignored her and waited for the other's decision.  
"Hmm... That might be a good idea, actually," Haytham said slowly. Izzati nodded.  
"As Impa's apprentice, we trust you have learned quite a bit about politics, right?" Sheik nodded. " Then I vote to send Sheik and Raven," Izzati announced. A quick vote was taken, and the end result was to send Raven and Sheik to negotiate with the Gerudo.  
"Very good, then," Haytham clapped his large hands together, "Now that that is settled, meeting dismissed!" The group gratefully rose from their uncomfortable seats on the ground and walked out of the tent to inform their factions of the plan. Raven and Sheik left to get some dinner, then sleep, as they would be leaving before sunrise. The trip would take seven days, with very few stops. They would arrive a few days before the main group, which was plenty of time to negotiate passage for the Sheikah and for Sheik to find Nabooru and see what their mission would be.  
Having planned out her next few steps, Sheik felt a little more secure, and managed to center her focus around her present tasks; getting food, then finding her small, green tent among the rows of identical small, green tents.

-0-0-0-

**A/N**

I'm very sorry for the late update and less then good previous chapter.  
Hopefully this chapter came out a little better, but I'm sorry if it didn't. I feel like Sheik should be pretty stressed about all of this, to put it lightly, after about six years of trying to live to separate lives, but I am apparently not all to good at writing feelings.

Anyway, sorry about mistakes, my awful writing, etc.

Please review and tell me what needs fixing!


	17. Unknown

The two Sheikah were up at dawn, their small amount of belongings packed and meager breakfasts eaten before Izzati and Haytham even woke up.  
Quietly, they walked through the sleeping camp. A thick blanket of mist covered the field and made it difficult to see ten feet ahead of them, putting them on edge.  
Careful not to disturb the pre-dawn silence, they reached the edge of camp and whistled softly for their horses.  
The horses greeted them with quiet whinnies before following them back into camp to get their tack.  
"Are you prepared?" Izzati asked, materializing out of the mist a few feet ahead. Sheik nodded.  
"Yes, we are prepared," confirmed Raven.  
"Good." Raven finished attaching her saddle and swung onto the horse's back. Sheik shifted from her position on her horse beside Raven. Izzati's usual stern and serious expression softened.  
"Please be careful," She said. "And please take care of Sheik," she whispered to Raven. She nodded and Sheik regarded them with mild suspicion, but did not take much interest.  
"Do not worry," Sheik said, "We will be fine." She turned and walked her horse out of the camp, the mist swallowing her and her storm grey horse in seconds.  
"Take care." Izzati waved as Raven turned her horse and followed Sheik. She raised her hand in farewell, then spurred her horse into a canter to catch up.

-0-0-0-

Silence wasn't a bad thing. But Raven wasn't used to the complete stony silence in which Sheik traveled. It wasn't even companionable silence, it felt to Raven as if she were being ignored. In truth, Sheik had simply forgotten she was there. Tangled up in her own rather dark thoughts, Sheik was trying with little success to come up with a solution to her current problems.  
Nearly six years since her deal with the devil was formed, and she had only been called on a few times in all of those years. More than once she had been ordered to assassinate nobles, and had crippled Zelda's army greatly. Sheik had coped with that by pretending she was not the same person and drawing an invisible line between the two Sheiks in her head. But now, there was no way to do that. It was too serious. As a result, she was having trouble coping emotionally. A problem which hadn't arisen since Sheik was very young.  
"Why now?" Sheik muttered under her breath.  
"What?" Raven asked. Sheik shook her head.  
"Nothing." Raven shrugged and returned to mending a tear in her always present hood. This was their second day on the road, and they were both tired, since last night they hadn't stopped. As dusk was fast approaching, Raven raised the issue of taking a few hours of much needed break.  
"We need food," Raven began, "we also need to rest. At least, if you do not, our horses deserve a break." She watched as Sheik considered, then nodded. It was the logical option, and the way Raven had approached asking her, with the reasoning first, indicated that she needed a break as well.  
"Keep an eye out for a good place," Sheik replied. Raven was glad to have something specific to do, as riding in this uncomfortable silence got boring after the first four hours.  
They soon came across a fallen tree that would supply enough shelter from the wind and hide their fire from potential enemies.  
With silent consent, the two turned off of the small game trail they had been following and guided their horses around the log.  
After rubbing down their horses with a brush and supplying them with food and water, they built a fire and Sheik disappeared into the forest to hunt.

Half an hour went by before Sheik returned.  
Dropping the rabbit she had caught and thankfully skinned far away from camp onto a convenient rock, she turned to find Raven tending a small fire.  
"I'll cook," Raven offered. Sheik nodded and handed her the rabbit before settling down on the leaf covered ground and leaning back against a tree. Closing her eyes, she went over her plan of action once she got to the fortress. She would have to distract Raven first. Chances are, the Gerudo would recognize Sheik and not harm them, but seeing the other Sheikah with her, they might conclude that Sheik had betrayed them and decide to imprison them. So it all depended on how much Nabooru trusted her.  
"Sheik?" she opened her eyes and blinked at Raven. "You should eat." She waved a stick of meat in front of Sheik's face to make her point.  
"Thanks." Sheik took the stick and turned away. Raven was accustomed to Sheik's strange eating habits and considerately turned her back to the other Sheikah so she couldn't see her face.  
A few minutes of silence passed, with only the crackling of their fire and the sounds of small animals and bugs to break it.  
"Sheik," Raven began hesitantly after a few minutes.  
"Yes?"  
"If we are to speak with the Gerudo's leader without first getting captured, then we will have to plan our course of action carefully." Sheik nodded in agreement.  
"I think I can handle that," Sheik said carefully.  
"How?"  
"I am not sure if it will work, however, I doubt they will harm me. I once saved their leader's life." As Sheik told the half lie, she felt a little bit of regret and disappointment in herself. The Sheikah believed that one should always tell the truth.  
"Well, that certainly gives us an edge," Raven stated. She seemed mildly surprised, and slightly suspicious. Sheik would have to play this carefully.  
"I don't know if it will guarantee us free passage," Sheik pointed out.  
"It is our best option, I believe. Unless you have a better solution?"  
"No."  
"Then this will be our plan, if you could call it that." Sheik agreed.  
"I have one more question," Raven continued. Sheik looked at her, nodding her permission to continue.  
"If I am to assist you until you are at full strength again, then I believe it would be in our best interest if we understood more about each other." Sheik recognized that speech pattern, that tone of voice, it mimicked Zelda when she was about to tell Sheik that she wanted her to do something with her that she new Sheik and Impa would be opposed to.  
Sheik growled, those thoughts initiating a chain of memories that quickly connected back to the destruction of her village.  
"I do not need assistance. Nor do you or I need to further understand the other," Sheik snapped.  
"Sheik, our histories are a touchy subject, but whether you like it or not we will be together for some time. Our survival may depend on this knowledge. You know as well as I that memories and unchecked feelings could cost lives," Raven reasoned.  
"I am entirely in control and will make no such mistakes." Raven sighed, and decided to play her trump card.  
"I know you have been in contact with the Gerudo on multiple occasions, what more dangerous secret could you possibly hold?" Sheik leapt to her feet and drew a knife, pressing it against Raven's throat barely a second after the words had left the other Sheikah's mouth.  
"Does anyone else know?" Sheik hissed into her hear, pressing the knife a little harder to encourage an honest answer.  
"Not to my knowledge," Raven answered. Her voice didn't waver and she didn't seem worried at all.  
"How much do you know?"  
"How much is there to know?" replied Raven. Sheik mentally berated herself for asking a bad question before replying.  
"How much?" Raven sighed again, before realizing that brought the ridiculously sharp blade uncomfortably close to breaking skin.  
"I know that you met a gerudo in the woods the night of the meeting. I know that you have some sort of connection to their leader. I know that you are terrified of them."  
"I am not-" Raven cut her off.  
"For the Goddesses' sake, Sheik, I am not blind, nor stupid! Do you think I have not seen you constantly looking over your shoulder and the way you are always looking around? Half of you're face may be covered, but your eyes tell all of your emotions." Sheik took a step back and released the knife. A feeling that she had not felt in years began to invade her carefully controlled thoughts, overrunning all rationality and drowning out her other emotions, such as the anger.  
Struggling to control the new emotion, Sheik did her best to look indifferent.  
"What will you do now?" Sheik asked quietly. Raven currently held her life in her hands. If she told any of the Sheikah, then Sheik would probably be executed. If she told Zelda, Shiek would probably be imprisoned.  
Raven stood up and smiled her strange little half smile.  
"I won't do anything." Sheik raised a skeptical eyebrow, temporarily managing to override her fear.  
"Your life could help decide the outcome of this war. It is not my place to change the fate of Hyrule."  
"How... How can you possibly know what the future holds? You could not possibly know my fate, so why would you stop a criminal from being imprisoned? Even if I can change the future of Hyrule, how do you know that the fate I choose for this country will be the right one?"  
"I do not believe there is a right or wrong decision. I do not know what decision it is you will have to make. I do, however, believe you will make the appropriate one. As for how I know all of this..." She trailed off as though she were thinking. "Now is not the time to tell." That irritating smirk returned to her face as she stared at a shocked and frightened Sheik.  
"My original answer still stands," Sheik decided, regaining control of herself.  
"I will concede this argument, for now, but know that you will have to tell me your reasoning eventually."  
"There are some things better left unsaid, Raven," she replied softly. Raven dipped her head in acknowledgement, but said no more.  
They finished their now cold meal in silence, split guard duty between them, then laid down to get some rest.

-0-0-0-

Morning came again and the sun's first rays began to appear over the horizon, chasing away the fog that had gathered during the night and waking the two young Sheikah.  
The ride that day was long and dull, with only the continuous trees and grassy field to look at. When they stopped for a quick repast, Raven noticed that the ground had become slightly dryer, with less of the wildflowers they had seen on the way and more dry grasses.  
"We will reach our destination soon," commented Raven. She watched her companion for a reaction, but gained none. Sheik had been completely silent since their discussion last night. Come to think of it, that was probably the most Sheik had ever said before. Raven suspected that Sheik was still a bit wary of her, and more than slightly nervous, as if she expected something to rise out of the earth and attack her for letting anyone else discover that she had had contact with the Gerudo.  
Raven had a hundred explanations for what Sheik had been doing with the desert people, and few of them were very good. Sheik, for her part, was afraid that Gannondorf would appear any moment and kill them both. Although it occurred to her that he probably didn't care one way of the other what her fate would be. She was also slightly frightened of Raven, who appeared to now more about her than she did. More about her future, not her past. Perhaps that was what scared her the most. It was illogical, nobody but the goddesses and their chosen could tell the future. That was why Sheik could keep believing that the Hero would awaken and cleanse the land. It was not possible for Raven to be one of the goddesses' chosen, she had lived her entire life in the Sheikah village and had never met any Hylians outside of those in Kakariko village, and those were the ones who accepted the Sheikah and fought with them in the civil war. Raven probably didn't believe in them as deities, not many Sheikah did. Many still believed that the only great power in the world was science, and Truth. The Sheikah had historically had an obsession with truth. They believed that one must always speak the truth, believe the truth, and follow only what they knew to be true. This did not include goddesses. Sheik herself believed that the truth was very important. Born with eyes that allowed her to see through any kind of mirage was proof to her that the truth was important. However, spending much of her life around Hylians, she had begun to believe in their goddesses as well. Having seen many miracles over the years, coupled with Zelda's ability, she could see no reason why it wasn't acceptable to believe in them as well.  
But the fact still remained that Raven knew too much.

-0-0-0-

The following days passed in a exhausting blur, with most hours of the day spent riding, and only stopping to sleep for a few hours when it got dark, before rising again long before dawn and continuing on. Each night during their meal Raven tried to get Sheik to speak, and each night Sheik ignored her or brushed her off with a few curt words.  
At last the day arrived when the pass leading to Gerudo Valley came into view. The change was drastic, cool green plants and moist soil changing into burning hot red rock in less than a mile. The river flowed through the canyon, but failed to support more than a few rough grasses.  
Raven breathed a muted sigh of relief when the sun finally set that day and they stopped in the shelter of a rock overhand near the river. Both were in dire need of a bath, and so Raven decided to swim, dragging Sheik in with her.  
The water was clear and cold, feeling wonderful after hours in the hot sun.  
Sheik admitted it felt nice as well, but not until after spitting insults at Raven as she removed her wet weapons and laid them on the shore to dry. Thankfully her bottomless bag was waterproof and had kept her clothes and other valuable not water resistant items safe.  
After a long swim, the two of them laid on the red rocks to dry, since they had jumped in with their armor still on.  
"We should be on guard," Sheik reminded her companion.  
"Our horses will warn us if there is danger," Raven assured her. They both glanced over to where their horses were munching on the meager grass. Raven trusted her horse with her life. She had trained it since both of them were very young, and knew he would warn her should danger arise. Sheik was riding Amur's horse, Basel. She had never gotten the chance to train her own horse, as most Sheikah did, and Anise had agreed to let Sheik borrow him, since if Amur came back, he wouldn't need her for awhile. Sheik felt a pang of guilt, knowing that she had let Amur fall, possibly to his death. She wondered if he had come back yet. Amur was strong, and the distance around the base of the mountain without use of the tunnels was great, and would have taken him months to travel. But until he came back, Sheik could not shake the feeling that he may be dead, and it was her fault.  
"Sheik?" She focused on Raven's voice, realizing she had missed something.  
"Yes?" Raven offered her some dried meat, which Sheik accepted gratefully.  
Raven sat back down next to the fire she had just built, and silently chewed on her own food while watching Sheik carefully. Sheik knew she was waiting for just the right moment to try and pry some information out of her, but Sheik was not going to just sit there and let it happen tonight. It was irritating, and needed to stop. So Sheik asked a question of her own.  
"Do you want to spar?" Raven glanced up at her, surprised to hear her initiate the conversation.  
"Alright." Raven stood up and slid into a ready position a few feet away from the fire. She looked significantly less intimidating without the hood she nearly always wore, Sheik thought.  
Sheik stood across from her, red eyes locking onto Raven's. Without warning, the two launched at each other, attacking, defending, counter attacking all in the space of seconds. They weren't afraid to hurt each other, and both used all of their skill, fighting as though they intended to kill.  
As the match wore on, they began to branch out, using less practical and simple maneuvers and adding flips and aerial combat into the mix, not something normally used when fighting a person on the ground, but still something that needed practice. For example, you never use a flying kick in battle except for unseating a mounted opponent, and even then it was risky and if done incorrectly resulted in broken bones.  
Half an hour later, they stopped, both panting for breath and extremely thirsty.  
"You need to work on your blocking," Raven told her as they kneeled next to the river to get some water. "You use mostly dodges, and your blocks are weak."  
Sheik nodded, acknowledging her flaw.  
"You need to use your right arm as well as your left," Sheik advised. "You always strike with your left arm, it is very predictable."  
They discussed their flaws, strengths and tactics for a bit longer before Raven lay down and rolled herself into her blanket.  
"Good night," she muttered. It had long since been decided that Sheik would stand watch for the first four hours and Raven for the next three, so Sheik simply nodded her head and muttered a response before finding a hidden spot on the rocks some distance from the camp fire to keep guard.  
She had successfully distracted Raven from the topic of her past, and was now looking forward to a few hours of silence. She glanced toward the stars, watching the clouds drift across the moon and the stars twinkling in the dark sky.  
"Please, Hero, wake up soon," she whispered.

**A/N**

Well... I'm not really sure what that was, but I hope it was okay.  
Reviews are greatly appreciated and make me extremely happy. Especially constructive criticism, since I would really like to make my writing better.  
Thank you for reading!


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